THE FAMILY THAT BOMBS TOGETHER...

A couple of family-centred suicide bombings in the Indonesian city of Surabaya have highlighted once again the close connection between Islamic faith and terrorism.

A family of militants in Indonesia carried an eight-year-old into a suicide bomb attack against police in Surabaya on Monday (May 14), a day after another militant family killed 13 people in suicide attacks on three churches in the same city.

The suicide bombers rode two motorbikes up to a checkpoint outside a police station and blew themselves up, Tito Karnavian, the police chief in Indonesia's second-largest city, told a news conference.

He said the child survived the explosion, and CCTV footage showed a child stumbling around in the aftermath.

Four officers and six civilians were wounded in the attack, East Java police spokesman Frans Barung Mangera said.

Usually when such attacks happen the media "damage control" narrative is that they have nothing to do with Islam, and that Islam is a "religion of peace." We are expected to believe that the motivation of he bombers is purely anger, hatred, or nihilistic malice. 

If that were true, then why would anyone bring their entire family on the suicide exhibition?

Quite clearly the people carrying out the attacks are people of deep faith who have a strong love for their families. They obviously believe that by committing these attacks they can be sure of going to Paradise -- clearly a religious belief -- and take their families with them. The fact that they decide to "treat" their family to the same heavenly afterlife as themselves is clear confirmation of this. 

In their own minds they are carrying out a virtuous act that will ensure a heavenly reward, something that is reinforced in their minds by Islamic teachings. 

Once again, Islam is revealed as a particularly militant and dangerous religion, both for those who believe in it, who willingly kill themselves, as well as their unwilling victims.