JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) ? A suicide bomber attacked an Indonesian church packed with hundreds of worshippers Sunday, killing himself and wounding at least 20 other people, police and hospital officials said.
The attack in Solo town in Central Java province occurred as services were ending.
A witness told local station MetroTV that she heard the blast just after she walked out of the Kepunton church.
"Everyone was screaming," Fani said. "I saw fiery sparks and, near the entrance, a man dead on the ground, his entrails spilling out. People around him were splattered with blood."
It was not immediately clear who was behind the explosion, which could be heard a half mile (500 meters) away.
Indonesia, a secular nation of 237 million, has been hit by a string of suicide bombings blamed on the al-Qaida-linked network Jemaah Islamiyah and its offshoots since 2002, when a strike on two Bali nightclubs killed 202 people, most of them foreign tourists.
Subsequent attacks have been far less deadly, however, and the last occurred more than two years ago, thanks to a security crackdown that led the arrests and convictions of hundreds of Islamic militants.
Bombings by solo "jihadis" have continued, however.
Central Java police spokesman Djihartono said that only the suicide bomber had died in Sunday's attack.
Around 20 other people were wounded, three of them critically, said Bambang Sumarsono, a hospital official.
Witnesses said they believed the perpetrator was not a church member.
"He walked about 4 meters (yards) behind me," Abraham, a churchgoer, told El Shinta radio. "I believe he was disguised as a churchgoer."
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Associated Press writer Ali Kotarumalos contributed to this report.
Associated Press
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