ISIS inspired church bombings were carried out by a family that used children as suicide bombers.

A member of the bomb squad outside of one of the churches that were bombed. The Guardian/Reuters. 

ISIS has taken credit for a series of bombings targeting churches in Indonesia. The Guardian. Eleven people were killed and dozens were injured by a family of suicide bombers. The husband and wife team recruited their four children, ages 9 to 18, to commit the attack. Both parents and the four children, two girls and two boys, blew themselves up at three different churches. It is believed that the family had just returned from Syria. The attack is believed to be related to and ISIS inspired prison riot at a West Java prison which killed five people. 

My Comment:

What an utterly disgusting attack in Indonesia. It disgusts me on multiple levels. First of all it targeted Christians who were worshiping on a Sunday. That would be disgusting enough but the fact that this entire family blew themselves up just to murder a bunch of innocent people is disgusting. 

Unfortunately, it isn't that uncommon for terrorists to use children as living bombs. Boko Haram, ISIS's African affiliate, regularly used children as bombers. Sometimes they didn't even tell them that they were going to be used that way. Using your own small children to do the same thing is even worse and is a level of evil that is hard to even imagine. What kind of parents send their 9 year old daughter off to die like this? It's completely disgusting and horrible. 

I am guessing that ISIS's claim of responsibility is correct. The fact that this family was able to get so many explosives and was so well coordinated shows a level of sophistication that means they have had to have help. This family clearly had links to terror groups as they had traveled to Syria to live with ISIS back when ISIS controlled much of the country. I would be extremely surprised if this was a "lone wolf" attack as opposed to one that was directed by ISIS or one of their affiliates. 

This attack also highlights the danger of returning ISIS fighters. This family clearly saw the writing on the wall in Syria and left while they had to chance to do so. But why were they allowed to come back to Indonesia? My guess is that they fell through the cracks, but you would think that anyone coming back from Syria and Iraq would at the very least be under surveillance. With ISIS largely reduced in Iraq and Syria, I wouldn't be surprised if more returnees commit attacks like this. 

It is also significant that these people attacked a serious of Christian Churches. Islam has always had a rough relationship with Christianity and ISIS especially has been very hostile to Christians. They have targeted Churches wherever ISIS is present and when they don't kill Christians they force them to pay a tax and humiliate them. When it comes to ISIS, if you are a a Christian, the best possibility is that you are treated as a second class citizen. More likely though, they will kill you. 

The presence of ISIS in Indonesia, the world's largest Muslim country, is a disturbing development. Indonesia has had problems with terrorism in the past but they haven't had too many recent attacks. That seems to be changing with this attack and the major prison riot occurring so close together. With ISIS kicked out of the Middle East, Asia has always been a possible backup plan. Afghanistan and The Philippines have had severe problems with ISIS and now it appears that Indonesia joins them. 

I'm expecting an uptick in terrorist attacks. As the Guardian report mentioned, Ramadan is coming up very soon and Ramadan has always been a horrible time of year. Muslims often believe that to die for Allah during Ramadan is blessed, so many horrible terror attacks have occurred during Ramadan. I would not be surprised if we see a few more major attacks in the coming days and weeks and they may even happen in Europe and America...