JAKARTA – An explosion at a cathedral in the Indonesian city of Makassar today was likely caused by a bomb, with body parts littering the chaotic scene, police said.
“There was an explosion and we suspect it was a bomb,” South Sulawesi police spokesman E. Zulpan told reporters.
“We also found body parts and we're investigating whether they're from bombers or bystanders... Some injured victims have been taken to hospital.”
Earlier, a priest had described as a suicide attack.
News footage showed cars near the building were damaged as police cordoned off the area.
The explosion at the city’s main Catholic cathedral happened just after Sunday services wrapped up, a man identified as the church’s pastor told Metro TV.
“We were finishing the service and people were going home when it happened,” the man, identified by his first name Willem, was quoted as saying.
The pastor said a congregant tried to prevent what he described as a “suicide bomber” from entering the church, adding that about 10 people were injured.
Churches have been targeted in the past by extremists in Indonesia, the world’s biggest Muslim-majority nation.
In 2018, a dozen people were killed when a family of suicide bombers blew themselves up at churches during Sunday services in Indonesia’s second-biggest city Surabaya. – AFP, March 28, 2021
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