Police have detained a woman, who was carrying a handgun, after she attempted to breach the Presidential Palace in Central Jakarta this morning.
A video posted by a community Instagram account for the Indonesian police force shows the woman, who was wearing a blue headscarf and a black niqab (face covering), being detained just outside the outer perimeter fence of the Presidential Palace on Jalan Medan Merdeka Utara.
Another post by the account reported that the woman, who was not carrying any form of ID, approached the palace gate and pointed her handgun towards security personnel. The officers managed to grab the weapon from her before detaining her. Other than the gun, she was carrying a backpack containing a Quran, a cell phone, and an empty pink wallet.
The Presidential Security Forces (Paspampres) confirmed the incident, but noted that the woman did not manage to get past the security checkpoint thanks to the vigilance of Paspampres personnel. The woman is now under the custody of the Jakarta Metro Police.
Paspampres also confirmed that President Joko Widodo was not in the palace as he is currently on an official trip in East Kalimantan.
The incident mirrored what happened in March last year when a veiled woman passed a security post at the National Police HQ in Jakarta and took out a handgun. Police gunned her down before she was able to hurt anyone else.
That incident came days after two bombers — a married couple — carried out a suicide attack at the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Makassar during Palm Sunday Mass. The two alleged terrorists were the only ones who were killed, while 19 people were wounded from the blast.
Police said those attackers belonged to Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), an IS-backed local terror network that carried out deadly suicide bombings in churches and a police station in East Java in 2018.
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