Sun, Sep. 25, 2011 Posted:
10:24 AM EDT
A suicide bomber has attacked an Indonesia
church affiliated with Rick Warren's
Saddleback Church in Southern California,
killing at least two people and injuring
several others.
In a "Purpose Drive Network Alert" published
on his Facebook
page and Twitter
account, Warren, pastor of
Saddleback Church in Lake Forest, alerted
followers to the attack in the early hours of
Sunday morning.
He wrote: "Purpose Driven Network Alert: Our
sister church in Solo City, Indonesia, Bethel
Full Gospel Church, has just been bombed."
The attack in Solo, Indonesia, came as
throngs of worshippers were preparing to leave
after gathering Sunday at Bethel Full Gospel
Church (also referred to as Church Bethel
Injil) in the capital city of Java.
According to police, the unidentified suicide
bomber died in the attack, and an injured
worshipper succumbed to injuries at a
hospital. At least 17 people were believed to
have been injured.
One worshipper, Kristano, told AFP, "I was
about to head home when a very loud explosion
shocked me. A crowd of people from inside the
church rushed to the streets."
Kristano added, "They were screaming and very
hysterical. The peaceful Sunday has quickly
become a chaotic situation."
According to an AFP correspondent, the
bomber, believed to have blown himself up
directly in front of the church, was wearing a
white shirt and black pants and had his left
hand severed.
The attack was apparently captured by church
surveillance cameras and officials expect to
use the footage to identify the gunman,
Australian news agency ABC News reports.
Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim
country, allows for religious freedom with its
constitution. However, religious tensions
occasionally flare in the Asian country, with
Christians being targeted.
On Sept. 11, six people were killed and an
estimated 80 injured after violent clashes
between Christians and Muslims in Ambon.
On Aug. 28, armed attackers stormed a
Christian neighborhood in the same city,
killing at least 12 people.
Conflicts between Christians and Muslims
between 1999 and 2002 have left more than
5,000 people dead and half a million people
displaced, according to BBC News.
Indonesia President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono
has condemned Sunday's attack on Bethel Full
Gospel Church, calling it "terrorism."
The city of Solo is also radical Muslim
cleric Abu Bakar Bashir's hometown. Bashir is
considered the spiritual leader for the group
that killed more than 200 people in Bali in
2002, according to media reports.
The Christian Post was unable to reach
Saddleback Church for comment and for greater
clarification on its relationship with Bethel
Full Gospel Church in Solo by press time.
