A family of Islamist militants in Indonesia carried an eight-year-old into a suicide bomb attack against police in Surabaya on Monday, a day after another militant family killed 13 people in suicide attacks on three churches in the same city. The suicide bombers rode two motorbikes up to a checkpoint outside a police station and blew themselves up, Tito Karnavian, the police chief in Indonesia's second-largest city, told a news conference. He said the child survived the explosion, and CCTV footage showed a child stumbling around in the aftermath. Four officers and six civilians were wounded in the attack, East Java police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera said. President Joko Widodo branded the attacks in Surabaya the "act of cowards", and pledged to push through a new anti-terrorism bill to combat Islamist militant networks. After some major successes tackling Islamist militancy since 2001, there has been a resurgence in recent years, including in January 2016 when four suicide bombers … [Read more...] about Militant family uses child in suicide bomb attack on Indonesian police
Suicide bombing caught on tape
Chinese man caught on tape attempting to steal on flight
A Chinese man was caught on camera trying to steal from a passenger's hand luggage on a Vietnam Airlines (VNA) flight on Jan. 19. VNA's check-in staff had previously paid attention to two suspicious Chinese passengers Zhang Giang and Ren Guanghan, both 41, who would later board flight number 600 from Bangkok to HCMC, according to Nguoi Lao Dong (Laborer) Newspaper. After that, they secretly informed the flight crew about the two passengers. When the duo were on the flight, a flight attendant found Zhang Giang who was on seat number 31A and Ren Guanghan on 25C seat switching positions. During the flight, Zhang Giang stood up to take a piece of luggage from the overhead locker and put it on his seat. After searching inside it thoroughly, he put it back onto the locker. All of his actions were caught on the camera of a flight attendant. Zhang confessed on the flight that the luggage he took was not his but belonged to a passenger on the 31C seat. The owner then checked his luggage … [Read more...] about Chinese man caught on tape attempting to steal on flight
At Least 20 Dead in Pakistan Suicide Bombing: Police
At least 20 people were killed in a suicide bomb attack on a group of police outside the high court in the commercial heart of Lahore on Thursday, Pakistani police said. The bomber set off his device when police asked him to stop his motorcycle outside the court, in the latest in a wave of suicide attacks which have claimed hundreds of lives across Pakistan over the past year.More than 30 people, many of them police officers, were injured in the explosion in the city's main commercial district, an AFP reporter witnessed. Several of the victims were seen lying motionless in the street."Senior police officer Malik Mohammad Iqbal told AFP that the head of the suspected suicide bomber had been found some distance from the blast site, which was littered with the dead and wounded.The blast ripped through a busy square in front of the Lahore High Court as police were gathering ahead of a protest by lawyers against the rule of President Pervez Musharraf."A man came on a motorcycle and police … [Read more...] about At Least 20 Dead in Pakistan Suicide Bombing: Police
Suicide bombing hits Shiite pilgrims in Iraq, killing 28
Up to 28 people were killed and 22 others wounded in a suicide bomb attack on Shiite pilgrims outside the city of Samarra in Salahudin province in Iraq on Saturday, a provincial police source said. "The latest death toll rose to 28 and 22 others were injured by the suicide attack," the source told Xinhua on condition of anonymity. The attack took place in the afternoon when a suicide bomber struck a bus carrying Shiite pilgrims while crossing a checkpoint outside Samarra, some 110 km north of Baghdad, the source said. Several soldiers at the checkpoint were killed or wounded, he said. The pilgrims were heading to the shrine city to observe a religious ceremony that marks the death of Imam Hassan al-Askari at his tomb in the shrine of Ali al-Hadi in the Sunni dominated city. The shrine of Ali al-Hadi is one of the four most revered Shiite shrines in Iraq. It contains the tombs of Ali al-Hadi, who died in 868 A.D., and Hisson Hassan al-Askari who died in 874 A.D. The two are … [Read more...] about Suicide bombing hits Shiite pilgrims in Iraq, killing 28
Suicide bomb attack kills Afghan police commander
The commander of an Afghan police force and two others were killed in a suicide bomb attack on June 11 in eastern Afghanistan, a provincial council official said. The three were killed when a suicide bomber detonated explosives in Khost province, said Arif Pashton, a provincial council member. There were conflicting reports about whether a child was among the dead. Two policemen and a child were killed, said Hedayetullah Hamidi, the acting chief at Khost hospital. He said 23 other people were wounded. But Pashton said all three killed were police officials. Conflicting casualty reports are not uncommon in the aftermath of an attack. Among the dead, according to Pashton, is the commander of Khost's quick reaction police force -- a special operations unit. Pashton identified the commander as Col. Zaher. CNN … [Read more...] about Suicide bomb attack kills Afghan police commander