Local television reports described scenes of chaos as witnesses recounted hearing two distinct explosions around noon, coinciding with the commencement of the sermon at a mosque located within SMA 72, a naval high school situated in Jakarta’s northern Kelapa Gading district.

As gray smoke enveloped the mosque, students and others inside fled in terror.

Authorities later recovered a toy submachine gun from the suspect, adorned with markings that seemed to convey white supremacist messages. Despite this, police dismissed rumors that the incident was related to terrorism.

Deputy House Speaker Sufmi Dasco Ahmad informed the press, following a hospital visit to the victims, that the suspect is a 17-year-old student who was undergoing surgery. No additional details were provided at the time.

National Police Chief Listyo Sigit confirmed that the suspect was among two students receiving surgery due to injuries sustained in the explosions.

“Our personnel are currently conducting an in-depth investigation to determine the suspect’s identity and the environment where he lives, including his house and others,” Sigit told a news conference at the presidential palace in Jakarta.

References to Christchurch attack

Sigit said investigators are still collecting information to determine a motive, including how the suspect was able to assemble a toy submachine gun with words inscribed on it including “14 words. For Agartha,” and “Brenton Tarrant: Welcome to hell.”

“14 words” is generally a reference to a white supremacist slogan, while Brenton Tarrant is the perpetrator of a 2019 mass shooting at a mosque and Islamic centre in Christchurch, New Zealand, that killed 51 and injured dozens of others.

“We discovered the weapon was a toy gun with specific markings, which we are also investigating to understand the motive, including how he assembled it and carried out the attack,” Sigit said.

Most of the victims suffered burns and injuries from flying glass. The type of explosives used was not immediately known but the blasts came from near the mosque’s loudspeaker, according to Jakarta Police Chief Asep Edi Suheri.

He warned against speculation that the incident was a terror attack before the police investigation is completed.

Police confirmed they were looking into reports in local media that the suspect was a grade 12 student who had been bullied and wanted revenge by carrying out what was intended to be a suicide attack.

“We are still investigating the possibility that bullying was a factor that motivated the suspect to carry out the attack,” Jakarta Police’s spokesperson Budi Hermanto told reporters late on Friday.

“There are several obstacles in obtaining information from witnesses as they are also victims who need medical treatment to recover,” Hermanto said, adding that authorities are providing “trauma healing” for students and teachers.

He revised the number of people injured to 54 instead of 55 as police said earlier, saying most of the victims were standing close to the loudspeaker and suffered hearing loss from the blasts inside the mosque. About 33 students remain hospitalised in two hospitals for burns and wounds from blast fragments.

Hermanto said the capital is safe and security is under control, and he urged people not to be anxious.

Families gather at hospitals

Videos circulating on social media showed dozens of students in school uniform running in panic across the school’s basketball court, some covering their ears with their hands, apparently to protect themselves from the blasts.

Some of the injured were carried on stretchers to waiting cars.

Shocked relatives gathered at centers set up at Yarsi and Cempaka Putih hospitals to seek information about their loved ones. Parents told television stations their children had wounds from being hit in the head, feet and hands by sharp nails and pieces of exploding objects.

Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim-majority country, was struck by a major militant attack in 2002 when al-Qaida staged bombings on the resort island of Bali that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists.

In subsequent years, there have been mostly smaller, less deadly strikes that have targeted the government, police and anti-terrorism forces, as well as those considered infidels by militant groups.

Friday’s attack was not the first mosque attack. In 2011, a Muslim militant blew himself up in a mosque at a police compound in Cirebon packed with officers during Friday prayers, injuring 30 people.

In December 2022, a Muslim militant and convicted bombmaker who was released from prison the previous year blew himself up at a police station in West Java, killing an officer and wounding 11 people.

Since 2023, the Southeast Asian nation has experienced what authorities call a “zero attack phenomenon.” Security experts say the government is responsible for the stable situation.