Channel News Asia
https://www.channelnewsasia.com/new...cide-bomber-seen-crying-inconsolably-10244778
SURABAYA: It was still dark when 16-year-old Firman Halim performed his dawn prayers at a mosque near his home in the leafy, middle-class suburb of Rungkut, Surabaya, Indonesia’s second largest city.
The bright, happy child was a favourite of the housing complex security guard, 46-year-old Hery, who regarded Firman as his “little brother.”
But last Sunday (May 13), something was amiss.
The familiar smile was missing. Instead, the teenager was crying. His father, Dita Oepriarto, 46, stroked his head and patted his shoulders but he kept on crying.
Hery had come to the mosque to pray before he started his morning shift and he sat close to them.
In the stillness of dawn, Hery, overheard his father whispering “be patient, be sincere” but the teenager could not be consoled. He continued crying.
(...)
Within 10 minutes, the entire family of six were dead. The suicide bombings at three churches killed 13 people and wounded another 41.
Back at his home, Hery heard the news. He was stunned. He immediately thought he understood why Firman was crying – he did not want to die.
“I feel, I believe, he didn’t want to do it (die as a suicide bomber). This is not right, to drag children into this,” said Hery, falling silent as he put his head down.
“I feel a terrible loss,” Hery added softly.
The day ended, but not the terror.
Later that night at 9.20pm local time, a bomb assembled by Anton Febrianto exploded prematurely in his home in Sidoarjo, just outside of Surabaya.
It killed his wife Puspitasari and their two children, Hilta Aulia Rahman, 17, and Ainur Rahman 15. Two other children, Faisa Putri and Garida Huda Akbar, respectively aged 11 and 10, survived.
On May 14, a family of five, riding on two separate motorcycles, attacked a police station in Surabaya, killing four members of the family. An eight-year-old child survived.
All three families knew each other, according to Indonesian police chief Tito Karnavian.
(...)
When asked where did Dita get the idea to turn his children into suicide bombers, the official said: “We don’t know yet but they (Dita and his friends) very often watched suicide bombings carried out by children."
The official added: “As the leader of JAD Surabaya, Dita could have influenced the other two families."
While Indonesian police chief Tito has officially said that Dita and his family did not go to Syria, the actual situation is far more complicated.
“We can’t really tell whether he (Dita) went to Syria or not as we have experienced instances where someone went to Syria and slipped back home undetected,” a security source told Channel NewsAsia.
Official figures show there are 1,200 returnees from Syria and many of them are not detained owing to the weakness in Indonesia’s anti-terrorism law 15/2003 which does not cover terror acts committed outside of Indonesia.
"Officially, the figure shows 1,200 returnees from Syria. But unofficially, it numbers at least 2,000 or more,” the source said.
BBM
Chilling. On so many levels. Much more at link.
