Explosion at mosque in Indonesian capital injures dozens, police say

An explosion at a mosque in Indonesia’s capital Jakarta during Friday prayers injured dozens of people, police say, without giving any early indication of the cause.

Jakarta city police chief Asep Edi Suheri tells reporters that 54 people were admitted to hospitals with a range of minor to serious injuries, including burns from the blast at the mosque inside a school complex in the Kelapa Gading area.

An investigation is underway.

“We have taken several measures such as investigating the crime scene, setting up a police line and sterilizing the area,” Suheri says.

The complex is located in a crowded area of North Jakarta on largely navy-owned land, home to many military personnel and retired officers. There is no indication whether the explosion might have been an accident or an act of malice.

Indonesia does have a history of attacks on churches and Western targets, but not mosques, and Islamist militancy has largely been suppressed in recent years.