JAD is an umbrella organisation on a U.S. State Department terrorist list that is estimated to have drawn hundreds of Islamic State sympathisers in Indonesia. Islamic State claimed responsibility for the attacks, in a message carried on its Amaq news agency. The church attacks were likely linked to the prison hostage standoff, said Wawan Purwanto, communication director at Indonesia’s intelligence agency. But there has been a resurgence of Islamist activity in recent years, some of it linked to the rise of Islamic State. Churches have also been targeted previously, including near-simultaneous attacks on churches there at Christmas in 2000 that killed about 20 people.

Source: The Hindu May 13, 2018 04:13 UTC