At about 10:30 local time in the morning, a suicide bomb attack outside a Roman Catholic church called the Sacred Heart of Jesus Cathedral in the Indonesian city of Makassar resulted in the deaths of 2 attackers alongside at least 14 injuries. Among the injured are 4 security guards and several churchgoers. Police spokespeople say that explosion happened during the end of a Palm Sunday service, the first day of Easter, and that the only people killed in the incident are the 2 attackers.

According to local officials, security guards at the church were initially suspicious of two people on a motorcycle who looked like they wanted to enter the church. When confronted and tackled by a security guard at the church's side entrance, one attacker detonated explosives. As of now, no person or organization has claimed responsibility over the bombing. Initial forensic investigations suggest that one of the two attackers may have been a woman, though this has yet to be confirmed.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo condemned the attack as an act of terror, and ordered the Chief of Police to investigate the attack and punish those responsible. He also expressed his condolences to those injured, and promised that the government would cover all costs of medical treatment and rehabilitation. Meanwhile, Religious Affairs Minister Yaqut Cholil Qoumas called upon police and security forces to increase security measures at places of worship. This latest incident was the first church bombing in Indonesia since the May 13th, 2018, when the bombings of 3 churches in Surabaya resulted in at least 2 dozen deaths.  

Note: The first image used in this article depicts the Roman catholic church at Makassar that was involved in this attack. It was retrieved on March 28th, 2021, and is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license. Credit goes to the Tropenmuseum, part of the National Museum of World Cultures (https://www.tropenmuseum.nl/). The second and third images were retrieved from the public domain, and do not require attribution or other citation for commercial purposes.