Jihad is a worldwide phenomenon and one that claims many innocent lives every day, every month and every year. It is a part of Islam that has murdered people in every continent apart from Antarctica and it needs to be fought by governments across the globe.
Sometimes however, security forces get lucky and manage to prevent extremist Muslims from causing the death and destruction that they see as wanted by their bloodthirsty deity, Allah. One such lucky break by the authorities has happened in Indonesia where a massive 500kg ( 1100lbs ) Islamic bomb was discovered and defused. According to press reports (h/t ROP), the bomb was to be used as part of a suicide attack on a police station. If successful this attack would not only have caused extensive loss of life, including many lives of individual Muslims, but would have been yet another in an increasing number of jihad attacks on Indonesia.
The Straits Times said:
Indonesian police say they have arrested nine suspected militants accused of plotting a suicide bomb attack on police.
National police spokesman Dedi Prasetyo says the counterterrorism squad arrested six people in Jakarta’s satellite city of Bekasi on Monday (Sept 23), two others in northern Jakarta and another in western Jakarta.
Reuters reported that the suspects were planning to attack police headquarters in the capital Jakarta.
Mr Prasetyo says the authorities defused a 500g explosive seized from one of the suspects, Muhammad Arshad, when they raided his house.
Police said they also found a goodbye letter written by Arshad, who allegedly planned a suicide attack using the explosive at a police station.
Police said the suspects are believed to be linked to Jemaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), a local militant network affiliated with the Islamic State group.
Attacks by the Islamic State, also known as the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria, have inspired actions by Indonesian militants despite a sustained crackdown.
The government scrambled to tighten its anti-terrorism laws after a series of suicide bombings linked to JAD cells killed more than 30 people in the city of Surabaya last year.
Another day and another group of Muslims planning to kill indiscriminately. This time the people of Indonesia were lucky and enhanced security and anti terrorism provisions have won the day. Unfortunately although lives have been saved this time, I suspect that there will be other groups of violent Muslim thugs who will appear somewhere down the line who may be successful in their attempts to kill. The problem of jihad is one that has been with us for a long time and it will never be solved until, as some previous generations of Western leaders and governments did, see jihad as intrinsically linked to Islamic theology and deal with this problem at its roots in Islam itself. We and our governments need to be honest about Islam and the fact that it is not and has never ever been, a genuine ‘religion of peace’.
