Indonesian police investigate ties between a mosque attack suspect and hate groups

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Indonesian police seized explosive powder and writings from the home of a 17-year-suspect in an attack on a mosque at a high school that injured scores of students, and are investigating his possible links to hate groups, officials said Saturday.

The suspect was among the 54 injured in Friday's blast in Jakarta and was still recovering at a hospital, said National Police Chief Listyo Sigit after visiting him and the victims. The suspect was one of two students having surgery for injuries from the blasts.

“The suspect’s condition has improved, and hopefully this will make it easier for us to question him after he recovers,” said Sigit, adding that police currently only have one suspect. “However, we will not stop here. We will continue to investigate whether other individuals or groups were involved.”

At least two loud explosions occurred around midday at the mosque, just as the Friday sermon started, at SMAN 72, a state high school within a navy’s residential complex, in Jakarta’s northern Kelapa Gading neighborhood. It prompted worshipers to flee in panic as gray smoke filled the mosque.

The type of explosives used was not immediately known but the blasts originated near the mosque’s loudspeaker, said Jakarta Police Chief Asep Edi Suheri.

Most of the victims standing close to the loudspeaker lost hearing from the blasts and about 29 students remained hospitalized on Saturday for burns and other injuries.

Police said Friday they recovered a toy submachine gun belonging to the suspect and inscribed with what appeared to be white supremacist slogans and the names of two neo-Nazis convicted of deadly attacks in Canada and Italy.

Police ruled out a terrorist attack, and 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.

Ridlwan Habib, an intelligence and terrorism analyst from the University of Indonesia, said that the suspect was frequently bullied and may have sought to retaliate by imitating the actions of international extremists he found from intense internet searches.

“This is the first time in Indonesia that an attack has occurred inside a school carried out by a 17-year-old student and the target was his own friends,” he said.

The suspect's neighbors described him as an introvert and unsociable teenager who lived with his father and older sister in a house that is used to process food for several restaurants.

“He’s a quiet person who often stayed in his room and played with his cellphone and laptop,” said Danny Rumondor, a neighbor, adding that the boy’s parents had divorced more than seven years ago.

Members of Indonesian Police bomb squad inspect the mosque where explosions went off at a high school compound in Jakarta, Indonesia, Friday, Nov. 7, 2025. (AP Photo/Fadlan Syam)

Police officers and military personnel stand guard at the gate of a school after explosions in Jakarta, Indonesia, Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)

Military personnel stand guard at the gate of a school after explosions in Jakarta, Indonesia, Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)

Police officers and military personnel stand guard at the gate of a school after explosions in Jakarta, Indonesia, Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)

Police officers and military personnel stand guard at the gate of a school after explosions in Jakarta, Indonesia, Saturday, Nov. 8, 2025. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)

ISTANBUL (AP) — A Turkish court on Thursday issued a ruling that effectively removed the head of the country’s main opposition party by annulling a 2023 congress that elected him.

The move deals a serious blow to the beleaguered Republican People’s Party, or CHP, as it struggles under waves of legal cases targeting its members and elected officials.

An appeals court in Turkey’s capital Ankara declared the CHP congress that picked Ozgur Ozel as chairman to be null, ordering that he should be replaced by his predecessor, Kemal Kilicdaroglu.

Last year, a lower court ruled against claims of irregularities and misconduct surrounding Ozel’s election but Thursday’s decision overturned the original verdict.

The ruling led to frantic meetings at the CHP’s Ankara headquarters, further threatening the opposition’s chances of unseating President Recep Tayyip Erdogan after more than two decades in office. Large crowds gathered outside the office block and police erected barriers.

The next presidential election is due in 2028 but Erdogan can call for an early vote. His main challenger, the CHP mayor of Istanbul Ekrem Imamoglu, has been imprisoned since March last year and is currently on trial on corruption charges.

The appeals court's decision suspends Ozel and members of the party’s executive board from their duties. They will be “provisionally” replaced by Kilicdaroglu and those who held office before the November 2023 congress.

In comments to broadcaster TV100, Kilicdaroglu called for party members to remain calm. “Our party is a very large party and it will solve its own problems internally,” he said. The 77-year-old was removed following a 13-year tenure as leader, during which the CHP failed to win any national elections.

Ozel, meanwhile, attempted to rally supporters.

“I am not promising you a path to power through a rose garden,” he posted on X following the ruling. “I am promising you the ability to endure suffering but never surrender. I am promising you honor, dignity, courage and struggle!”

The CHP is expected to challenge Thursday’s ruling in the Supreme Court in the coming days.

Justice Minister Akin Gurlek, who oversaw several cases against the CHP in his former role as Istanbul’s chief prosecutor, described the court’s ruling as one that “reinforces our citizens’ trust in democracy.”

Many observers have said that the legal cases against the CHP — mostly centered on corruption allegations — are politically motivated and aimed at neutralizing the party ahead of the next election. The government, however, insists that Turkey’s courts are impartial and act independently of political pressure.

Erdogan has ruled Turkey, first as prime minister and then as president, since 2003. His electoral record suffered a serious blow in 2019 when the CHP seized control of several major cities in local elections. In Istanbul, Imamoglu emerged as a popular and charismatic figure that many felt could successfully topple Erdogan.

FILE - Republican People's Party or (CHP) leader Ozgur Ozel gestures to party members during his speech during a CHP convention, in Ankara, April 6, 2025. (AP Photo/Ali Unal, File)

FILE - Turkish CHP party leader and Nation Alliance's presidential candidate Kemal Kilicdaroglu, center, joins legislators elected to the Grand National Assembly of Turkey as they attend their first parliamentary session, in Ankara, Turkey, June 2, 2023. (AP Photo/Ali Unal, File)