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Solved case · 2018
Also known as 2018 Surabaya churches bombings
The short answer
In May 2018, three families carried out a series of suicide bombings at three churches, an apartment complex, and a police headquarters in and around Surabaya, Indonesia, killing 28 people including the bombers and injuring around 50 others.
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Suggest coverage for Surabaya bombingsThe case file
On the morning of 13 May 2018, coordinated suicide bombings struck three churches in Surabaya, Indonesia's second-largest city: Immaculate Saint Mary Catholic Church, Indonesia Christian Church (GKI), and Surabaya Central Pentecostal Church (GPPS). The first blast occurred at SMTB Church shortly after morning mass, killing a child and a security volunteer, Aloysius Bayu Rendra Wardhana, who had tried to stop the bomber. Minutes later, a woman wearing a niqab and carrying explosives, accompanied by her two daughters, detonated a bomb at GKI after security officer Yesaya Bayang attempted to block her entry; he was critically injured. At GPPS, a car bomb driven into the church compound caused the most destructive blast of the day, destroying vehicles and injuring many. Authorities said 28 people were killed across the day's attacks, including the bombers, and about 50 were injured.
That evening, a fourth explosion occurred at an apartment complex in Wonocolo, Sidoarjo, when police arrived to raid a unit; the bombs inside detonated, killing three adults while three children in the same family survived. Police said the family may have been preparing further church attacks. The next day, 14 May, two suicide bombers attacked a checkpoint at Surabaya Police headquarters, killing four bombers and wounding several police officers and civilians; an eight-year-old girl, believed to be the bombers' daughter, was found alive amid the aftermath.
Indonesian police identified three families as responsible for the attacks: the family of Dita Supriyanto and Puji Kuswati (church bombings), the family of Anton Febryanto and Puspita Sari (Sidoarjo apartment), and the family of Tri Murtono and Tri Ernawati (police headquarters). Police said children as young as nine participated, marking what authorities described as the first time in Indonesian history that entire families, including young children, were used in suicide attacks. Some surviving children later said they had resisted their parents' attempts to involve them.
The Indonesian National Police attributed the bombings to Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), a local Islamic State-linked network, with Amaq News Agency claiming responsibility on behalf of ISIL. Officials said the attacks were ordered in retaliation for the imprisonment of JAD leader Aman Abdurrahman and followed the deadly Mako Brimob prison standoff days earlier. Nationwide raids and arrests followed, with dozens of suspects killed or detained over the following weeks. A related attack, in which men wielding swords assaulted the Riau Regional Police headquarters in Pekanbaru on 16 May, was described by police as potentially linked to and funded by the Surabaya cell.
The Indonesian government responded by tightening security nationwide, raising terror alert levels, and passing a strengthened anti-terrorism law on 25 May 2018. The attacks were widely condemned domestically and internationally, and were described as the deadliest terror attack in Indonesia since the 2002 Bali bombings.
9 dated entries · 2018
Standoff begins at Mobile Brigade Corps headquarters in Depok, resulting in the deaths of five police officers.
Suicide bombings occur at three churches in Surabaya (SMTB, GKI, GPPS), killing 28 people including the bombers and injuring around 50 others.
A fourth bomb explodes at an apartment complex in Wonocolo, Sidoarjo, killing three adults; three children survive.
Two suicide bombers attack the Surabaya Police headquarters checkpoint, killing four bombers and wounding police and civilians.
A shootout occurs between Detachment 88 personnel and a suspected affiliated group in Manukan Kulon, Surabaya.
Sword-wielding attackers assault Riau Regional Police headquarters in Pekanbaru; police say the attack may be linked to the Surabaya cell.
A security officer injured in the church bombings succumbs to his injuries.
The Indonesian House of Representatives passes a strengthened anti-terrorism law.
Police report 28 people killed in total and announce the arrest of 37 additional suspects nationwide.
11 named in this file
Victims first. Every legal label is set from public records and court outcomes, not from the prose.
Security volunteer killed while trying to stop a bomber from entering SMTB Church.[3]
Security officer critically injured, later died from injuries sustained while trying to stop a bomber at GKI Diponegoro.[3]
Convicted and sentenced to death by a Jakarta court on 22 June 2018 for inciting several attacks, including the May 2018 Surabaya bombings, while imprisoned as the leader of JAD/JAT.[3]
Identified by East Java police as an attacker and member of a family cell planning further church attacks; killed by police gunfire following the premature Sidoarjo apartment bomb explosion, so was never prosecuted.[3]
Identified by police as an attacker and member of the bombing cell; killed in a shootout with police in Sidoarjo following the Sidoarjo apartment explosion, so was never prosecuted.[3]
Identified by Indonesian police as Dita Oepriarto, the suicide bomber who drove a car bomb into the Surabaya Central Pentecostal Church (GPPS) on 13 May 2018, the third of his family's three coordinated church bombings that day; he died in the attack he carried out, so was never prosecuted. He was the father and organizer of the family cell, linked to Jamaah Ansharut Daulah.[3]
Identified by police as the mother who carried out the second church attack as Indonesia's first female suicide bomber; died detonating the bomb, so was never prosecuted.[3]
Identified by Indonesian police as the mother in a Jamaah Ansharut Daulah-linked family who planned and helped prepare a bomb at a Sidoarjo apartment on 13-14 May 2018 alongside husband Anton Febryanto; she died in the explosion when the device detonated prematurely during that preparation, so was never prosecuted.[3]
Identified by Indonesian police as the mother in a Jamaah Ansharut Daulah-linked family who carried out a motorbike suicide bombing at Surabaya Police headquarters on 14 May 2018; she died in the attack, so was never prosecuted.[3]
Identified by Indonesian police as the father in a Jamaah Ansharut Daulah-linked family who carried out a motorbike suicide bombing at Surabaya Police headquarters on 14 May 2018; he died in the attack, so was never prosecuted.[3]
Chief of the Indonesian National Police who led the investigation and public briefings on the bombings.[3]
From the record
3 cited
Coverage is not a source: every fact in this file rests on the records below.
PressBBC NewsAccessed Jul 7, 2026
PressThe Sydney Morning HeraldAccessed Jul 7, 2026
EncyclopedicWikipediaAccessed Jul 7, 2026
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