At least 13 killed in a family's suicide attacks on 3 churches in Indonesia

Police stand guard outside a church in Banda Aceh on May 13, 2018 following attacks on churches in Surabaya, Indonesia.
(Image credit: Chaideer Mahyuddin/Getty Images)

Seven people were killed and dozens more injured when suicide bombers targeted three churches in between services in Surabaya, Indonesia, on Sunday.

The attacks have been claimed by the Islamic State and were perpetrated by members of a single family: the mother with two daughters, ages 9 and 12, at one church and the father and two sons, ages 16 and 18, at the other two. All six family members died as well, bringing the total death toll to 13. Local authorities said the family was involved in an ISIS-inspired Indonesian group, Jemaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), and may have traveled to Syria.

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Bonnie Kristian

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.