Terrorist attacks a wake-up call for Indonesia and the region
Jakarta must ramp up its anti-terrorism efforts at a time when extremists have become ever more barbaric, even using children to carry out their dastardly deeds
Terrorism has been taken to a barbaric new level in Indonesia, with the members of two families killing church-goers and police in suicide attacks in the second-largest city of Surabaya.
An Islamic State-inspired network has been blamed for the incidents, which were in keeping with the extremist group that has been forced out of Syria and Iraq; it seeks to destroy core values of diversity and tolerance.
Those are prized in the nation of 260 million people, where a majority of Muslims live peaceably beside large numbers of Buddhists, Christians and Hindus.
The new tactic and a rising threat across Asia require security officials to ramp up counterterrorism measures and improve coordination with other governments.
Indonesia is in the grip of a spate of Islamist attacks. In the first bombings on May 13, a mother and two daughters, aged eight and nine, struck one church, while her husband and two sons targeted two others; 18 were killed, including the attackers, and more than 40 injured.
The blasts were the nation’s worst in a decade and were reminiscent of a deadly series of strikes on churches in 2000.