Police probe Indonesia mosque attack

JAKARTA, Indonesia – Indonesian police seized explosive powder and writings from the home of a 17-year-old 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, National Police Chief Listyo Sigit said 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 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 12th grade 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 the suspect was frequently bullied and may have sought to retaliate by imitating the actions of international extremists he found from 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.

6 die in fire at Turkish perfume depot

ISTANBUL – A fire at a perfume depot in northwestern Turkey on Saturday morning killed six people and left one person injured, officials said.

The cause of the blaze in Kocaeli province was not immediately known. The fire broke out around 9 a.m. local time, with local media reporting that it was preceded by several explosions. Emergency teams and firefighters were immediately dispatched to the site and the fire was brought under control within an hour.

Speaking with reporters, the province’s governor, Ilhami Aktas, said six people had died and one was injured and was receiving treatment. He added that the cause of the fire was still unknown.

Hundreds hurt, 6 dead in Brazil tornado

RIO DE JANEIRO – A powerful tornado in Brazil’s southern state of Parana killed six people and injured more than 400 others Friday night, state officials said Saturday.

The tornado, with wind speeds of more than 155 mph, destroyed dozens of homes and prompted the government to declare an emergency in the affected region.

State officials in a statement said at least one person was missing hours after the tornado touched down. Five of those who died were adults and the sixth was a 14-year-old girl.

The government said more than 750 people, including children and pregnant women, had received medical attention at hospitals and on-site units. Of those, at least 10 underwent surgery and nine remained in serious condition.

On social media, Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva expressed solidarity with the victims.

Paint dumped over villa used by Russia

STOCKHOLM – A drone flew over the Russian trade delegation’s villa on an island outside Stockholm early Saturday and dumped paint and an unknown sticky substance onto the building before flying away, police said.

No one was hurt and the villa wasn’t evacuated, according to Ola Osterling, press secretary for the Stockholm regional police.

The trade delegation’s staff spotted the drone and saw it drop a container with the paint and unidentified substance around 5:30 a.m. local time, Osterling said. They then called Stockholm regional police.

Investigators took samples of the substance for analysis and opened a case into vandalism and harassment, Osterling said. Officers didn’t see the drone but interviewed the staff who witnessed it. It wasn’t clear who was behind the incident.

The Lidingö island houses foreign embassies and their satellite offices and residences, such as the trade delegation’s villa, Osterling said.

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)

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)