• Seventeen-year-old suspect undergoing surgery: official.
• Police say 55 injured in explosions during Friday prayers.
• The mosque is located in the school compound.

Explosions at a mosque in Indonesia’s capital Jakarta that injured dozens of people during Friday prayers could have been an attack, officials indicated, with a 17-year-old identified as the suspected perpetrator.

Police said 55 people were in hospitals with a range of minor to serious injuries, including burns, after the blasts at the mosque inside a school complex in the Kelapa Gading area.

“The explosion was loud, so loud that I could not breathe because I was shocked,” said Luciana, 43, who was working at the school canteen at the time. She described multiple blasts and panic as dozens fled the complex.

“I thought it was a short circuit or the sound system which exploded — we were so afraid so we rushed out.”

Deputy house speaker Sufmi Dasco Ahmad, speaking to media after visiting a hospital, said the young male suspect was undergoing surgery, without giving more details or possible motive.

Investigation

At a news conference, Jakarta city police chief Asep Edi Suheri said a probe was underway.

“We have taken several measures such as investigating the crime scene, setting up a police line and sterilising the area,” Suheri said.

Indonesia does have a history of attacks on churches and Western targets – but not mosques. Islamist militancy has largely been suppressed in recent years.

News channel KompasTV showed footage of a green-painted mosque with a line of shoes outside, cordoned off with police tape. There were no signs of damage to the exterior.

State news agency Antara quoted the deputy chief security minister Lodewijk Freidrich as saying there were two explosions.

Black-clad police carrying assault rifles guarded the iron gates of the compound, with emergency vehicles and armoured police vehicles on the street outside.

The complex is located in a crowded area of North Jakarta on largely navy-owned land, home to many military personnel and retired officers.

• Seventeen-year-old suspect undergoing surgery: official.
• Police say 55 injured in explosions during Friday prayers.
• The mosque is located in the school compound.

Explosions at a mosque in Indonesia’s capital Jakarta that injured dozens of people during Friday prayers could have been an attack, officials indicated, with a 17-year-old identified as the suspected perpetrator.

Police said 55 people were in hospitals with a range of minor to serious injuries, including burns, after the blasts at the mosque inside a school complex in the Kelapa Gading area.

“The explosion was loud, so loud that I could not breathe because I was shocked,” said Luciana, 43, who was working at the school canteen at the time. She described multiple blasts and panic as dozens fled the complex.

“I thought it was a short circuit or the sound system which exploded — we were so afraid so we rushed out.”

Deputy house speaker Sufmi Dasco Ahmad, speaking to media after visiting a hospital, said the young male suspect was undergoing surgery, without giving more details or possible motive.

Investigation

At a news conference, Jakarta city police chief Asep Edi Suheri said a probe was underway.

“We have taken several measures such as investigating the crime scene, setting up a police line and sterilising the area,” Suheri said.

Indonesia does have a history of attacks on churches and Western targets – but not mosques. Islamist militancy has largely been suppressed in recent years.

News channel KompasTV showed footage of a green-painted mosque with a line of shoes outside, cordoned off with police tape. There were no signs of damage to the exterior.

State news agency Antara quoted the deputy chief security minister Lodewijk Freidrich as saying there were two explosions.

Black-clad police carrying assault rifles guarded the iron gates of the compound, with emergency vehicles and armoured police vehicles on the street outside.

The complex is located in a crowded area of North Jakarta on largely navy-owned land, home to many military personnel and retired officers.

US President Donald Trump said on Thursday that Iran has requested the lifting of heavy US sanctions, adding that he is open to discussing the possibility.

“Frankly, Iran has been asking if the sanctions could be lifted. They’re facing very heavy US sanctions, which makes it really hard,” Trump said during a dinner with Central Asian leaders at the White House.

“I’m open to hearing that, and we’ll see what happens but I would be open to it,” he added.

Western powers, including the United States, have long accused Tehran of pursuing nuclear weapons, a charge Iran denies, insisting its program is purely peaceful.

Iran has been under years of international sanctions, particularly since Washington withdrew from the 2015 nuclear deal in 2018 and reimposed strict economic measures.

Tensions escalated in June, when Israel launched an unprecedented bombing campaign against Iran, triggering a 12-day war that briefly drew in the United States with targeted strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities.

The conflict marked by Iranian missile and drone attacks in retaliation — derailed the fragile nuclear talks that had been ongoing between Tehran and Washington since April.

Trump said Iran had once been the “bully of the Middle East,” but “no longer has the possibility of nuclear weapons.”

The Republican president, who returned to office in January, has repeatedly claimed that recent strikes destroyed much of Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, though the full extent of the damage remains unclear.

In September, the United Nations reinstated sanctions against Tehran under the so-called “snapback” mechanism after Britain, France and Germany triggered the process.

Those measures bar dealings linked to the Islamic republic’s nuclear and ballistic missile activities.

Oman, which has hosted several rounds of US-Iran nuclear talks, has called on both sides to return to negotiations.

The talks had aimed for a new agreement that would curb Iran’s nuclear activities in return for sanctions relief.