MEDAN // An Indonesian teenager who stabbed a priest in a church and tried to set off a homemade bomb was obsessed with the leader of ISIL, a minister said on Monday.
The 17 year old attempted to set off the crude, low-grade explosive on Sunday as the Catholic priest held mass in a packed church in Medan on the island of Sumatra, and then stabbed him with a knife.
The explosive, which authorities compared to a firecracker, did not detonate properly and only gave off smoke while the priest sustained minor injuries to his arm.
The congregation tackled the attacker after he ran at Father Albert Pandiangan and knifed him, stopping the teenager before he could do more harm.
“From the mobile phone confiscated by authorities, this kid is obsessed with Abu Bakr Al Baghdadi from ISIS,” security minister Wiranto said. The group’s influence has been blamed for a string of recent attacks and attempted attacks in Indonesia.
Wiranto, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, said the words “I love Al Baghdadi” were also found written on the attacker’s backpack, although officials do not believe he had joined any terror network.
A search of his rented room turned up copper cables, gunpowder and light bulbs, materials that could be used to assemble simple bombs.
The backpack he carried during the attack contained cut up sections of a pipe, packed with gunpowder. The devices were not capable of producing a serious explosion, said Wiranto.
An witness said the assailant was seen fiddling in his bag, which produced a small explosion, before he ran towards the priest.
In January, ISIL claimed a suicide bombing and gun attack in the Indonesian capital that killed four attackers and four civilians. And in July an ISIL-linked suicide bomber attacked a police station on Java island, causing minor injuries to one officer.
* Agence France-Presse
