Church bomber linked to mosque attack

2011-09-26 14:12

Jakarta - Indonesian police said on Monday the suicide bomber who attacked a Christian service in central Java resembled a fugitive wanted for an attack on a police mosque in April.

At least 27 people were injured on Sunday when the man detonated explosives packed with shrapnel as worshippers were coming out of the Bethel Bible Church in the city of Solo.

National police spokesperson Boy Rafli Amar said the dead man, whose face is intact, resembled Ahmad Yosepa Hayat, one of five people wanted in connection with April's suicide attack on the police mosque in the West Java city of Cirebon.

That attack killed another bomber and injured 30 people, mostly police officers who were at Friday prayers.

Extremists have made several threats against the police, who have arrested more than 600 suspected militants.

"The man looks like the wanted person in the picture we have," Amar said. "We are focusing on that."

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Sunday that he believed the church attack was linked to the mosque bombing and urged the police to hunt the perpetrators and track down their network.

Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim-majority country, has been hit by a string of bombings blamed on Islamist militants since 2000, notably the 2002 Bali attacks that killed 202 people.

- SAPA