Would-be suicide bomber knifes priest after home-made device fails to go off

A knife-wielding attacker stabbed a Catholic priest and tried to set off an explosive device at a church in Indonesia on Sunday. The man knifed priest Albert Pandiangan in the left arm as he was holding a mass in the city of Medan on the western island of Sumatra. He also let off a homemade explosive device but it failed to detonate properly, according to police. The attacker, believed to be a Muslim, was tackled by other churchgoers, while the priest was taken to hospital for treatment for minor injuries.

Somebody tried to kill the priest by pretending to attend the church service and at that time tried to explode something, like a firecracker, but the firecracker didn’t explode, it only fumed

Chief detective Nur Fallah.

Witnesses in the the Santo Yosef church said the man was sitting among the congregation when he leapt forward and tried to set off his home-made device. Markus Harianto Manullan said he was wearing a jacket and carried a bag. “He sat in the same row as I did… I saw him fiddling with something in his jacket, and then I heard a small explosion and he immediately ran to the podium,” he added. Another witness, Timbas Ginting, added: “There was a small explosion like fireworks and he also took out a knife as he ran toward the priest.”

medan