Indonesian Police Find Explosive Powder After Mosque Blast.

16 hours ago7 min read1 comments

Indonesian authorities are piecing together a chilling narrative of planned violence after a devastating explosion ripped through a mosque in Central Jakarta during Friday prayers, an attack that left nearly 100 worshippers wounded and a nation grappling with the specter of renewed religiously-motivated terrorism. Police Chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo, in a terse press conference held amidst the palpable tension on Saturday, confirmed the grim discovery of potential explosive powder at the scene, a critical piece of evidence pointing towards a deliberate act.The suspected perpetrator, identified only as a 17-year-old high school student, is currently under guard in a hospital, his motives and potential affiliations the central focus of an intensive manhunt for any accomplices. This assault echoes the dark chapters of Indonesia's past, where groups like Jemaah Islamiyah carried out a series of coordinated bombings on Western targets and hotels in the early 2000s, killing hundreds.While significant counter-terrorism successes in recent years had led to a period of relative calm, security analysts are now urgently questioning whether this attack signals a dangerous new tactic: shifting targets from international symbols to soft, domestic religious gatherings, a move that could dramatically lower the barrier for entry for lone actors or small cells. The timing—during the densely packed and spiritually significant Friday prayers—was calculated to maximize carnage and psychological impact, a hallmark of extremist strategy designed to shatter communal peace.The immediate response saw a massive deployment of the national police’s Densus 88 counter-terrorism unit, a force forged in the fire of the Bali bombings, now scouring the perpetrator's digital footprint and social connections for any hint of a wider network. The involvement of a minor as the primary suspect raises profound and disturbing questions for educators and community leaders about the insidious online radicalization pipelines that can bypass traditional community safeguards, preying on youthful disillusionment.President Joko Widodo is facing immediate pressure to address both the security lapse and the underlying ideological currents, with his administration likely to face scrutiny over the balance between hardline security measures and the softer, more complex work of de-radicalization programs that have seen fluctuating support. For the residents of Jakarta, a bustling metropolis all too familiar with the threat of terror, the blast is a visceral reminder of a vulnerability that never fully dissipates, casting a long shadow over the nation's hard-won stability and posing a critical test for its security apparatus in the days and weeks to come.

#featured

#Indonesia

#mosque explosion

#police investigation

#explosive powder

#Jakarta

#suspect

#injured

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