Terrorism in Europe Inspires Copy-Cats

JAKARTA, KOMPAS – The various acts of terrorism in Europe are believed to have inspired several Islamic State (IS) movement terrorist cells in Indonesia to launch copy-cat attacks in a number of regions. The inspiration is in terms of the patterns of attack and people targeted by the terrorist cells.

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar on Monday (10/4) at the National Police headquarters, Jakarta, said that the attack on a traffic monitoring police post in Tuban, East Java, last week, for example, was similar to the terrorist attack in London, England, on March 22. The perpetrators used a vehicle to get close to the on-duty police officers and then attacked when they were off guard and unarmed.

Prior to that, the Thamrin bomb incident in January 2016 in Jakarta was also inspired by the Paris bomb attack in November 2015. An attack by a suspected lone terrorist on a police officer in Cikokol, Tangerang city, Banten, in October 2016 was said to be similar to a sharp weapon attack on a police officer in Europe.