orth Sumatra Police confirmed on Sunday that the suspect in the attack St. Yosep Catholic Church in Medan did not act alone and may have had connections to the Islamic State (IS) movement.
Sr. Comr. Nur Fallah, the North Sumatra Police director of general crime, said the suspect told the police during questioning that he was ordered to carry the bomb and blow it up in the church on Jl. Dr Mansyur.
“The police are hunting his associates,” Nur said Sunday.
Some of the churchgoers said they saw two people run from the church when the bomb failed to explode properly. Members of the congregation said they did not really pay attention to the two people because they were busy trying to save themselves while others were trying to prevent the suspect, identified as Ivan Armadi Hasugian, 18, from attempting to kill the priest, Albert Pandiangan.
Nur said they were also investigating the involvement of IS in the terror attack against the church following the discovery of a document with an IS symbol in the suspect’s wallet.
On July 26, two attackers slit the throat of an 85-year-old priest, Jacques Hamel, during Mass in a church in Rouen in western France. The IS group claimed responsibility for the attack, in which the priest, two nuns and an elderly couple were held hostage before the two men slashed the priest's throat and seriously wounded the other man. (evi)
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