Indonesian security minister Wiranto stabbed by pair linked to IS

Indonesia's security minister has been stabbed by a man and a woman ‘inspired’ by IS, police say.

A handout photo made available by the Banten Police Headquarters shows a man (C) stabbing Indonesian Security Minister Wiranto

A handout photo made available by the Banten Police Headquarters shows a man (C) stabbing Indonesian Security Minister Wiranto Source: AAP

Two members of an IS-linked terror network stabbed Indonesia's chief security minister Wiranto on Thursday, the intelligence head said, sending the powerful politician to emergency surgery for his wounds.

Television images showed security officers wrestling a man and woman to the ground in Pandeglang on Java island after the attack on Wiranto, who goes by one name, as he was exiting a vehicle.

The suspects were identified as 31-year-old Syahril Alamsyah and Fitri Andriana, 21 - a married couple, according to local media.

They were members of Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), an extremist group responsible for deadly suicide bombings at churches in Indonesia's second-biggest city Surabaya last year, State Intelligence Agency chief Budi Gunawan told reporters in Jakarta.

JAD is among dozens of radical groups that have pledged loyalty to IS in Indonesia, which has long struggled with Islamist militancy.

Wiranto, 72 - who police have said was one of several targets in an earlier failed assassination plot - was rushed by helicopter to the capital, where he was treated for two knife wounds in his stomach.

A three-hour operation "went well", Indonesian cabinet secretary Pramono Anung told reporters at Gatot Subroto army hospital.

Mr Anung said he had just seen Wiranto, whose "operation had finished and he entered the ICU."

"It is being handled very well by the hospital," he said in video posted by the detik.com news website.
President Joko Widodo earlier said Wiranto was "in surgery and I ask that all Indonesians pray that he gets well soon."

"And I ask for everyone's help in fighting radicalism and terrorism because we can only do it together," he added.

The assassination attempt comes just over a week before Mr Widodo kicks off a second term as leader of the Southeast Asian archipelago of some 260 million people, the world's biggest Muslim-majority nation.

Three others - a local police chief and two aides - also suffered knife wounds in Thursday's attack but authorities said they had non-life-threatening injuries.


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Published 11 October 2019 10:16am
Updated 11 October 2019 8:48pm
Source: AFP, SBS


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