Indonesian security minister Wiranto stabbed by Isis-linked radicals: police

Indonesia’s security minister was stabbed on Thursday after being attacked by a knife-wielding man with links to a domestic radical group aligned with Islamic State. The incident is the first time a senior politician has been attacked in recent years. President Joko Widodo called the suspect a terrorist and urged Indonesians to launch “united efforts” to help combat radicalism. The attack happened when Wiranto, who goes by one name, emerged from his car after officiating a ceremony to open a new building at a university in Pandeglang, West Java. Wiranto was about to walk to a helipad to catch a helicopter to return to Jakarta after the event. “The incident occurred very quickly. Wiranto had got down from his car, and a man went up to greet him. The suspect then stabbed him with a sharp object,” Indonesian national police spokesman Dedi Prasetyo told reporters. Wiranto, 72, was stabbed at the “front” of his body and sustained two knife wounds, according to Dedi. A local sub-district police chief, Dariyanto, was also stabbed and sustained injuries to his back. Wiranto was treated at Berkah, Pandeglang hospital, before being airlifted to the Gatot Soebroto Army hospital in the capital, where he underwent surgery. “His wounds are quite deep but he is in a stable condition,” Firmansyah, director of the hospital where the emergency medical treatment was provided, told the Jakarta-based private television network Kompas TV. A man and a woman, who are a married couple, were arrested and police seized items they were carrying, including knives and a pair of scissors. Police named the arrested pair as Syahril Alamsyah, 31, from Medan, and Fitri Andriana, 21, from the town of Brebes in Central Java Province. The perpetrators were found to be members of the Isis-linked Jemaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) radical group, according to Budi Gunawan, head of the Indonesian National Intelligence Agency. “These two perpetrators (a husband and wife) … we have identified them as members of JAD Bekasi,” Budi was quoted as saying by Detik.com after visiting Wiranto at the hospital. Bekasi is a city in greater Jakarta. Indonesia Independence Day bomb plot foiled as suspected militant arrested Budi told media the stabbing of Wiranto could be linked to the coming presidential inauguration of Widodo on October 20. “We must be extra careful as this (stabbing) could possibly be also linked to the inauguration of the President," Budi was quoted as saying by CNN Indonesia. There were many groups that were seeking to disrupt Widodo’s swearing in ceremony for his second term, “including JAD”, Budi said. Singapore’s foreign affairs ministry on Thursday condemned the attack in a statement. “Singapore condemns the senseless terrorist attack on Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs Wiranto in Banten, Indonesia today. We wish Coordinating Minister Wiranto and the others who were injured a swift and complete recovery,” the statement said. In a Facebook post, Singapore Senior Minister Teo Chee Hean called Wiranto an “old friend” and wished him a speedy recovery. “I’d just met him last week in Singapore at the Singapore International Cyberweek. I wish him a full and speedy recovery,” Teo said. Wiranto’s stabbing marks the first successful Isis-linked attack on an Indonesian government official. President Joko Widodo on Thursday ordered investigators to take firm action and to thoroughly probe the stabbing. He called upon the nation to fight radicalism and terrorism together as only through “united efforts” could the scourges be “defeated in this country that we love”, Widodo was quoted by local media as saying. Widodo said he would consider requesting police to tighten security for all senior government officials. Plot to kill Widodo’s most trusted security officials ‘meant to create fear’ in Indonesia Indonesia, which is the world’s biggest Muslim-majority country, has been grappling with a resurgence in militancy. The government scrambled to tighten its anti-terrorism laws after a series of bombings linked to the Isis-inspired JAD group killed more than 30 people in the city of Surabaya last year. Hundreds of people have been detained under the new laws since the beginning of 2019. If the attack was staged by militants it “represents a serious escalation in aspirations”, said Sidney Jones of the Jakarta-based Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict. Why a resurgent Jemaah Islamiah in Indonesia is also bad news for Malaysia and Singapore Aside from a failed attack on the South Sulawesi governor in 2011, it was the first time in recent history that militants had been this close to an assassination of such a senior figure in Indonesia, she said. Wiranto, a retired four-star general and former commander of the armed forces, has served as chief security minister in President Joko Widodo since 2016. In May, Wiranto was one of the targets in an assassination plot to kill four of Widodo’s top security officials in an effort to destabilise the government. A prominent pollster was also on the list. The plot was foiled after police arrested four hitmen and two weapon suppliers. A number of firearms and ammunition were seized. Additional reporting by AP, Reuters