More than 50 people were injured when explosions ripped through a mosque in Jakarta, Indonesia, during Friday prayers, authorities said. Police have identified a 17-year-old student as the suspected perpetrator.
The blast occurred at around 12:15 p.m. local time (05:15 GMT) inside a mosque located within a state-run high school complex in Kelapa Gading, a district in northern Jakarta. Most of the injured were students, according to Indonesia’s police chief, Listyo Sigit Prabowo, who said the suspect was also among those hurt. “An investigation is ongoing, including how the suspect assembled and carried out the attack,” Prabowo told reporters on Friday.
Emergency teams rushed victims, many suffering from burns and shrapnel injuries, to nearby hospitals. A bomb disposal squad was later deployed to sweep the site for additional explosives.
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Initial reports from local media and Indonesia’s national news agency Antara suggested that two gun-like objects were found near the blast site, one resembling a submachine gun engraved with the words “14 words. For Agartha” and “Brenton Tarrant. Welcome to Hell.”
Brenton Tarrant was the Australian gunman behind the 2019 Christchurch mosque attacks in New Zealand that killed 51 people. However, Indonesia’s Deputy Speaker Lodewijk Freidrich Paulus, who visited the site, later clarified that the objects were toy guns, not functional weapons. “The items seen in photos turned out to be toy guns, not real firearms,” Paulus told CNN Indonesia, urging the public to avoid drawing premature conclusions about terrorism.
Witnesses described scenes of panic following the blast. A school cook told Reuters she saw “white smoke and shattered windows” as worshippers fled. “Our hearts were beating fast, we couldn’t breathe,” she said.
Some students told local media that the alleged perpetrator had been bullied repeatedly and often drew violent imagery in notebooks. One student told Antara the suspect “brought a homemade bomb into the mosque.”
The teenager reportedly collapsed and was found lying on the ground after the explosion, according to witnesses.
Authorities have not yet determined a motive. Police said they are examining whether bullying or ideological influences may have played a role.
Paulus urged patience as forensic teams analyze debris and interview witnesses. “Let’s not rush to call it terrorism,” he said.
The explosion, which struck during one of the busiest times of the week for Muslim worshippers, has shocked the predominantly Muslim country. Indonesia, which has faced occasional extremist attacks in the past two decades, has largely avoided major bombings in recent years.
