Indonesian police were searching for more suspects today after two militants from an Islamic State-linked terror group stabbed the chief security minister, as the politician recovered in hospital following emergency surgery.
Wiranto, a 72-year-old former army chief, was stabbed twice in the stomach as he left his vehicle in Pandeglang, West Java yesterday.
The assassination attempt comes shortly before President Joko Widodo begins his second term as leader of the Southeast Asian archipelago of 260 million people, the world’s biggest Muslim-majority nation.
Yesterday, Jokowi ordered the national police and intelligence agency chiefs to pursue other suspects in the attack and the extremist network allegedly behind it.
“An attack like this should set off alarm bells for security personnel to increase their caution,” said Ridwan Habib, a terrorism researcher at the University of Indonesia.
Today, Wiranto was in hospital following surgery and reportedly recovering.
“I visited him earlier today. He could talk but still looked weak,” presidential chief of staff Moeldoko told AFP today.
“He remains in intensive care.”
A 31-year-old man and a 21-year-old woman, reportedly a married couple, were arrested at the scene in Pandeglang.
They were later identified as members of Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), an extremist organisation loyal to IS that was responsible for several previous attacks, including deadly suicide bombings at churches in Indonesia’s second-biggest city Surabaya last year.
The male suspect had reportedly been under surveillance by the intelligence agency in Indonesia, which has long struggled with extremist Islamist groups.
Some past attacks have been against police and other state symbols, but yesterday’s incident is thought to be the first known assassination attempt by JAD on an Indonesian politician.
Authorities routinely arrest suspected IS-loyal militants they claim were planning bomb and other attacks.
Three others — a local police chief and two aides — also suffered knife wounds in Thursday’s attack but authorities said they had non-life-threatening injuries.
Wiranto, the retired chief of the armed forces and a failed presidential candidate, was appointed to his post in 2016 and oversees several departments, including the foreign affairs and defence ministries.
A major figure in Indonesian politics, he has faced controversy over alleged human rights violations and allegations of crimes against humanity linked to Indonesia’s brutal occupation of East Timor.
In May, police said Wiranto and three other top officials were targeted in a failed assassination plot linked to deadly riots in Jakarta after Widodo’s re-election victory.
A group of six people — arrested before they could carry out the killings — hoped the killings would plunge the country into chaos, police said at the time.
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