A sudden explosion at a mosque inside a Jakarta high school injured more than 50 people during Friday prayers, authorities said, with a 17-year-old student identified as the suspected perpetrator.
The incident occurred around 12:15 local time (05:15 GMT) at a state-run school in Kelapa Gading, a busy district in the Indonesian capital.
Most of the victims were students, some suffering serious burns, while the teenage suspect was also hurt, according to police chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo. He said investigators are looking into "how the suspect assembled and carried out the attack."
Following the blast, a bomb disposal unit was sent to the site to secure the area, collect evidence, and ensure no further explosive devices were present.
One student told the government-owned news agency Antara that the homemade bomb was brought by a pupil who had been frequently bullied. Other students described the suspect as a "loner" who often made violent drawings and was found lying on the floor after the explosion.
A cook at the school recounted the chaos to Reuters, saying, "Our hearts were beating fast, we couldn't breathe," as white smoke filled the mosque and shattered windows from the "massive" blast.
Police said two items resembling firearms were found at the scene. Photographs shared with Antara showed one object resembling a submachine gun and another like a pistol.
The submachine gun-like object carried inscriptions reading: "14 words. For Agartha" and "Brenton Tarrant. Welcome to Hell." Brenton Tarrant was responsible for a 2019 mosque and Islamic centre shooting in Christchurch, New Zealand, that killed 51 people.
However, a government minister who visited the school clarified to CNN Indonesia that the objects were not real weapons. Lodewijk Freidrich Paulus said what appeared to be guns "turned out to be a toy gun, not a real gun."
He also urged the public not to assume the blast was a "terrorist act," as investigations are still ongoing.
Authorities also recovered a dark green belt used for storing gun cartridges at the scene.
With Indonesia having the world’s largest Muslim population, officials emphasized the importance of investigating the incident thoroughly. Police are continuing to question witnesses, examine evidence, and determine how the explosion occurred to prevent similar events in the future.
