A

n explosion rocked Cicendo, a densely populated area in the heart of Bandung, West Java, on Monday morning, only 1 kilometer from Husein Sastranegara International Airport.

Locals then watched aghast as a standoff developed between an alleged terrorist who is believed to have left the bomb and dozens of police personnel at the nearby Arjuna subdistrict building.

The tense standoff, during which could be heard shooting and the explosion of tear gas grenades, ended at noon with the death of the terrorist suspect, three hours after the bomb exploded in Arjuna Park, a middle-class residential area, near the subdistrict building. No casualties were reported in the blast, which threw out shrapnel and dozens of nails in a 50-meter radius.

West Java Police chief Insp. Gen. Anton Charliyan confirmed that the bomb was a low-explosive device.

Police have identified the suspect as 42-year-old Purwakarta resident Yayat Cahdiyat who served a prison term for a terrorist offense and was allegedly linked to the Islamic State (IS)-affiliated Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), which the United States named as a terrorist group last month.

“He was a member of Bandung’s JAD, which is linked to Aman Abdurrahman,” National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian said in Surabaya, East Java.

He was referring to firebrand cleric Aman Abdurrahman, IS master recruiter and ideologue, who has allegedly orchestrated attacks from behind bars.

JAD was the main group supporting IS in Indonesia, Tito said, adding that the group was believed to be behind last year’s terrorist attacks on Jl. MH Thamrin, Central Jakarta, that left four civilians dead and on Oikumene Church in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, in which a toddler was killed.

Tito said the attack was aimed at showing the group’s presence and to demand the release of the group’s members who were being detained by the National Police’s counterterrorism squad Densus 88.

Yayat was jailed in 2012 for three years for taking part in military training in Janto, Aceh, in 2011, National Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Martinus Sitompul said.

The attack took place ahead of the visit by King Salman Abdul Abdulaziz Al Saud of Saudi Arabia this week. However, Martinus stressed the incident had no relation to the visit.

Police suspect two people were involved in the attack. As one was killed, police are hunting down the other suspect who fled on a motorcycle after the blast.

Before he was shot, Yayat burst into the subdistrict office, recounted civil servant Sri Haryani, who immediately ran out of the office with her colleagues.

“He came into the office waving his knife and then he became angry. He threw chairs about and ran to the second floor,” she said.

Yayat remained on the second floor, defying police orders to surrender. Two fire trucks were summoned to put out a fire he started in the office.

The standoff took several hours until dozens of the police’s Gegana bomb squad and Mobile Brigade personnel charged into the office and shot Yayat. He died on the way to the Sartika Asih Hospital, Anton said.

Terrorist analyst and regional representative for the International Organization for Security and Intelligence Rakyan Adibrata said JAD was pushing its efforts to increase its profile.

“In the context of terrorism, it needs media [coverage]. Even without committing terrorism acts at vital, important sites, it will still be covered by the media and be acknowledged.” (dis/mrc)