Indonesia Churches Attacked, Security Boost Ordered
Unidentified assailants attacked two Protestant churches in Indonesia’s Central Sulawesi province Sunday evening in the latest in a series of attacks on Christians in the region.
Unidentified assailants attacked two Protestant churches in Indonesia’s Central Sulawesi province Sunday evening in the latest in a series of attacks on Christians in the region.
"The people inside the church heard the shooting and they panicked," a receptionist at the Immanuel Church in Palu city told the Associated Press.
Sources report that four men on two motorbikes opened fire on the Anugerah Church in Palu City during an evening worship service on Sunday, Dec. 12. After the attack two people were rushed to Undata Hospital with serious gunshot wounds. Minutes later, attackers hurled a bomb outside the entrance of Immanuel Church, seriously injuring a guard and hospitalizing several worshippers. According to AP, it was not clear whether the same group attacked both churches, which are about one kilometer (half a mile) apart, and there has been no speculation on who conducted the attacks.
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Palu's police chief has since been dismissed for alleged negligence in not following a directive to boost police protection at places of worship ahead of the Christmas and New Year period. Meanwhile, provincial police chief Aryanto Sutadi has ordered that all churches be guarded by two uniformed and two plain-clothed policemen. According to the Religious Liberty Commission (RLC) of the World Evangelical Alliance (WEA), the concern is that provocateurs may try to destabilize the presidency of Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono by re-igniting conflict in Central Sulawesi. Unlike most of Muslim-majority Indonesia, Central Sulawesi's population is evenly divided between Muslims and Christians. This year, sectarian clashes claimed at least 46 lives in Central Sulawesi, where the Government previously had succeeded in reducing violence between Muslims and Christians.
To prevent religious violence and acts of terror over Christmas and the New Year, the RLC says Yudhoyono has ordered those responsible for security to intensify measures, especially in major cities such as Jakarta (Java), Medan (north Sumatra), Surabaya (east Java) and Makassar (south Sulawesi), as well as in conflict-prone regions.
Surabaya, Indonesia's second largest city, is home to 15 Catholic and 317 Protestant churches, the RLC reported. It is also regarded as 'the capital of the Muslim stronghold in East Java' according to the local Jakarta Post news agency.
In an effort to safeguard Christians this Christmas, Surabaya's police chief, Sr. Comr. Eddy Kusuma Wijaya, will post police guards on all Surabaya's 332 Christian churches.
Meanwhile, Indonesian police said Tuesday they were searching for six men suspected of involvement in bombing attacks. Authorities have reason to believe that the attackers came from Poso town, 1,000 miles northeast of Jakarta.
