Indonesia: Minors given 2 years over church bombing

By Ainur Rohmah

TUBAN, Indonesia (AA) - An Indonesian court Wednesday gave two years in prison apiece to two minors convicted of a terror attack on a church that killed a toddler.

Nawawi Pamolango, head of the East Jakarta District Court, told Anadolu Agency that the judge gave the sentence to the two minors, identified as R.P. (17 years) and J.A. (16 years), over a terror attack last November on a church in the city of Samarinda in the Central Sulawesi province.

He said they were involved in planning and training for the attack, assembly of the bomb, and carrying out the attack in front of the Oikumene Church on Sunday morning, Nov. 13.

After the attack four children were taken to hospital, and one of them died the next day after suffering burns to more than three-quarters of her body.

Police have named a total of five suspects in the case, but only two minors had faced trial.

"The other suspects will go to trial after police hand their case files to the prosecutor," Pamolango said.

Police previously said the five were members of the terrorist network Jemaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), which has been linked to Daesh.

JAD is reportedly led by jailed Islamist cleric Aman Abdurrahman, who is currently serving a nine-year prison sentence in Indonesia for aiding a militant training camp.

The November attack followed an August incident in a church in North Sumatra when a would-be suicide bomber failed to detonate during mass.

Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, has been cracking down on militant groups since the 2002 Bali bombings in which 202 people died.

The country is currently on alert for at least 500 Indonesians who are reported to have joined Daesh in Syria, with dozens gradually returning home.