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‘Reserved’ family of six behind suicide bombings in Surabaya

A family of six who lived in the Wisma Indah residential complex in Wonorejo Asri in the eastern part of East Java’s Surabaya often kept to themselves and seemed to avoid their neighbors, particularly in the past two years

Gemma Holliani Cahya and Wahyoe Boediwardhana (The Jakarta Post)
Jakarta/Surabaya
Tue, May 15, 2018

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‘Reserved’ family of six behind suicide bombings in Surabaya

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family of six who lived in the Wisma Indah residential complex in Wonorejo Asri in the eastern part of East Java’s Surabaya often kept to themselves and seemed to avoid their neighbors, particularly in the past two years.

The father, named Dita Oeprianto, wife Puji Kusmawati, their teenage sons, identified only as YF, 18, and FH, 16, and their daughters FS, 12, and PR, 9, lived a somewhat normal life in a house located some 7 kilometers from the church where the first bomb went off on Sunday.

Little was known about the family, and the neighbors did not notice anything out of place.

“He [Dita] was very reserved. He never drew attention to himself,” said Adi, who lives seven houses from the family’s residence, on Sunday, as quoted by tribunnews.com.

The family’s door was closed to neighborly visits.

“I once invited him to visit my house, but he never [invited us to visit theirs],” Adi said.

Another resident named Tanjung said Dita often greeted the neighbors but said nothing more. “It was simply hello and that was all. [He] often entered his house afterward,” Tanjung said.

It remains unclear when Dita and his family moved to the house. RT head Khorihan said it was in 2012, while Adi recalled that Dita already lived there when Adi moved to the neighborhood in 2010.

As far as Adi knew, Dita never had a steady job. He used to make herbal medicine for a living, but then he started to make pecan oil instead.

The family, however, seemed just like any other ordinary family, as there was no evidence of radicalism.

The wife only wore a hijab instead of a niqab (full Islamic veil) during her daily routine, Adi said.

Their children went to school just like the other kids in the neighborhood. YF was in senior high school and FH was in junior high school, while the two daughters were in elementary school.

Tanjung recalled that one of the children “often rode a bicycle in front of the house”.

But on Sunday, Dita’s two teenage sons, YF and FH, reportedly rode a motorcycle to Saint Mary Immaculate (SMTB) Catholic Church of Surabaya in the Ngagel area and detonated a bomb at around 7 a.m.

Around the same time, Puji brought her two young daughters to Diponegoro Indonesian Christian Church (GKI), located around 3 km from the first blast. Wearing all black veils, they reportedly entered the church’s front yard before detonating the explosives strapped around their waists.

Minutes after the incident, the father detonated explosives stored in his car outside Surabaya Pentecostal Church (GPPS) on Jl. Raya Arjuna.

Police have confirmed that the family was behind the Sunday church bombings, which killed at least 14 people, mostly Christians who were attending Sunday morning Mass.

National Police Chief Gen. Tito Karnavian said the family was believed to be tied to Jamaah Anshar Daulah (JAD), a pro-Islamic State Islamic group. Following their investigation into the attacks, the police suspect Dita to have been the leader of JAD’s Surabaya chapter.

A few hours later, a bomb prematurely went off at Wonocolo Rusunuwa (low-cost apartments) located behind Taman Police station in Sidoarjo, East Java. It is believed that another family was plotting to attack the police station. The father, mother and their eldest son were killed in the incident. Their two daughters survived.

“This morning, a family of five [attacked Surabaya Police station]. [They] were carrying a little girl on their motorcycle. This is so heartbreaking,” East Java Police chief Insp. Gen. Machfud Arifin said on Monday.

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