Shooter at Islamic Organization HQ Unrelated to Terrorist Group: Expert
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Editor
2 May 2023 23:34 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Terrorism expert from the Community of Ideological Islamic Analyst Harits Abu Ulya believes the lone gunman behind the shooting at the Indonesian Ulema Council (MUI) headquarters is not linked to the country’s terrorist groups.
“My initial suspicion is that this [incident] has nothing to do with any terrorist groups that exist in Indonesia,” said Harits in a statement on May 2.
Prior to the incident, the perpetrator apparently had visited the MUI headquarters in Jakarta twice in 2022 apart from sending six consecutive letters to MUI management.
"He physically came to the MUI office wanting to meet the organization’s leaders, but he was not accepted and his motivation was to convey a message. He [proclaimed to be] sent by the Prophet Muhammad to deliver a message to MUI leaders," Harits said.
According to him, the suspect Mustofa (60) had already planned his attack once his request got rejected again, “It shows as he was armed with a gun," he said.
Police initially reported that the suspect died at the scene as law enforcers stopped him from further carrying out the shooting.
AMY HEPY
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