Indonesia steps up security at churches following jihadist attacks

Indonesian authorities on Friday stepped up police security at Christian churches in the midst of Easter celebrations after jihadist attacks in recent days in the country.

The measures come after a pair of suicide bombers attacked a church on the island of Sulawesi on Sunday and a female jihadist was killed on Wednesday when she attacked the National Police headquarters in Jakarta.

"I stress again that there is no place for terrorism in the country. We have to unite against terrorism," Indonesian President Joko Widodo said in a statement yesterday, announcing that he had tasked the National Police with stepping up security.

At least 20 people were injured on Sunday when a married couple rode a motorbike carrying a bomb that exploded near a church in Makassar, South Sulawesi.

The attack, which killed the couple, coincided with the Palm Sunday mass that kicks off Holy Week, celebrated by the Christian minority in the Indonesian archipelago.

Three days later, a 25-year-old woman wearing a Muslim headscarf shot at several police officers at the National Police headquarters in the Indonesian capital and was shot by officers, none of whom were injured. Authorities believe the attacker was acting alone, inspired by Islamic State (IS).

In May 2018, at least 13 people were killed in attacks on three Christian churches on the eastern Indonesian island of Java, claimed by IS, the jihadist group that went on to form an unrecognised caliphate in parts of Syria and Iraq in 2013 and 2014.

Indonesia, where 88% of its 260 million people practice Islam, has suffered several jihadist attacks in the last two decades, including one on the island of Bali in 2002 that killed 202 people.