Indonesian police are still pursuing the suspect behind yesterday’s explosions in the town of Bangil, Pasuruan, East Java.
According to National Police Spokesperson Mohammad Iqbal, the suspect has been identified as Ahmad Abdul Robbani aka Anwardi, who was convicted and jailed from 2010 to 2015 for a terror attack on a police station in Kalimalang, East Jakarta in 2010 that claimed no casualties.
Mohammad also said that the three explosions, which occurred in Anwardi’s rented house, were from explosives meant for blast fishing.
“After the bomb squad combed the scene, they found that the explosives were some type of bomb for fishing. The explosive capacity was weak, the house’s ceiling didn’t even cave in,” Mohammad said, as quoted by state news agency Antara today.
The police believe that Anwardi, who has ties with Jamaah Ansharut Daulah, a network of Islamic State-affiliated terrorists in Indonesia responsible for May’s suicide bombings in the East Java capital of Surabaya, was making explosives at home with the intention of using them for an attack when one accidentally exploded. Two more explosives detonated within moments of the first one, during which time Anwardi fled his home and has been pursued by authorities since.
A six-year-old boy, believed to be Anwardi’s son, was injured in the incident. Police say the child, who is being treated at the East Java Police Hospital, is in agony as the blasts charred his face and tore skin off his leg.
A woman, believed to be Anwardi’s wife, was taken in to police custody yesterday.
Indonesia introduced tougher counter-terrorism laws following May’s terror attacks, allowing police to detain terror suspects for longer periods and conduct surveillance on ex-convicts or those who returned from terrorism hotbeds from around the world.
