![Six family members carry out deadly suicide bombings in Indonesia. [Image source: CBSNews/YouTube]](https://staticr1.blastingcdn.com/media/photogallery/2018/5/14/660x290/b_502x220x82/six-family-members-carry-out-deadly-suicide-bombings-in-indonesia-image-source-cbsnewsyoutube_1990655.jpg "Six family members carry out deadly suicide bombings in Indonesia. [Image source: CBSNews/YouTube]")
On Sunday, May 13, a wave of suicide bombings in the Indonesian city of Surabaya was carried out by three radicalized Islamic families. The families targeted three Christian churches in Indonesia in a planned series of suicide bombing attacks. On Monday, May 14, another coordinated suicide bombing attack was directed toward police headquarters in Surabaya.
Police have identified the families of the ISIS-inspired attacks, as the community of Surabaya remains baffled by the incident. The families were described by Time, that they lived comfortably in an upper-middle class suburb and seemed very friendly with their Christian neighbor.
The families were portrayed as tolerant and showed no signs of plotting acts of terrorism. According to Surabaya police, the family lived in a residential community in Wonorejo Asri, and earned money from the father’s business selling herbal medicine. The family made a good steady income.
Indonesia is a Muslim majority country, but horrified Indonesians were completely shaken by the events, for they always believed their country to be tolerant.
The families behind the suicide bombings
All three families were apart of the same radicalized religious groups. The parents brainwashed their children by homeschooling, where the families would meet to study radical Islam and jihadist films. According to The Guardian, the film's content was footage from Iraq and Syria.
The film went into great detail describing the ISIS attacks on France, encouraging the children to commit more terrorist acts.
The families would meet at the home of father Dita Oepriarto, where the family of six orchestrated a plan to bomb Christian churches. The children were being raised to hate Christianity by the father.
Police had uncovered that Dita Oepriarto was the head of the local branch of Jemaah Ansharut Daula (JAD), which is linked to an ISIS extremist network.
The bombings
Before Sunday services, Oepriarto drove his wife Puji Kuswat and the couples two daughters, aged 9 and 12, were the first to carry out the attack. Kuswat and her daughters went inside of the church where they denoted the bomb.
After Oepriarto dropped his wife and children off at the church, the father then drove to Pentecostal Central Church where he detonated another bomb. Police concluded around the same time, Oepriarto’s two teenaged sons, aged 16 and 18, drove their motorcycles to the Santa Maria Catholic Church, where they detonated the final bomb.
Forensics discovered that bombs were attached on all of the bodies including the children. The deadly terrorist attack killed 12 innocent people and injuring more than 40.
On Monday morning, the family of five rode their motorcycles to a Surabaya police headquarters and detonated their waist bombs. The only surviving member is the family’s seven-year-old daughter, who is being questioned by police.
Tuesday, May 15, police identified the bombers responsible for the police bombing as Tri Murtino and his wife Tri Ernawati. The attack was also orchestrated by their three children.
Islamic radical terrorist group ISIS, claims responsibility for the deadly acts.
