Suicide bomber of Indonesia church identified

SOLO, Indonesia — On Sept. 27, Indonesian police identified the suicide bomber who detonated eight pipe bombs outside a church building in Solo, Central Java on Sept. 25. The bomber, Ahmad Yosepa Hayat, killed himself and wounded at least 20 church members. “The church never expected anything like this to happen; this (suicide bombing) is indeed the first in church history in Indonesia,” a local source who requested anonymity said.

Police had been searching for Pino Damayanto, who used the alias Ahmad Yosepa Hayat, in connection with a previous suicide bombing at a Cirebon, West Java mosque inside a police station in April. On Sept. 26, police found a similar bomb outside the Maranatha Church in Ambon city, on the island of Ambon.

A total of 600 to 700 people attended the two services at Bethel Full Gospel Church in Solo that Sunday, the same local source said. “The bomber went into the church just as everyone was singing the last song,” the source said. “As soon as the service was over and people started to move, he blew himself up by the glass doors leading out of the sanctuary.

Most of the victims are doing well now, except for 18-year-old Deviana, who is still in the ICU ward with nails and other objects implanted in her head.” She has had surgery and is responding well, he said. “The church members are not afraid and they believe God was there to protect them,” the source explained. “In fact, on the day of the bombing, the guest preacher spoke about the ever-present help of God and quoted from the story of Stephen the martyr. Church members say the fact that nobody died, other than the bomber, is proof of God’s care for them.”