Indonesia chief security minister stabbed by ISIS terrorist

Indonesia’s chief security minister has been stabbed by a man who authorities suspect may have been radicalised by Islamic State ideology.

Television images showed security officers wrestling a man and woman to the ground outside a university in Pandeglang on Java island after the attack on Wiranto, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.

"Someone approached and attacked him," said national police spokesman Dedi Prasetyo, adding that the pair were arrested.

Footage showed the minister falling to the ground after emerging from his car as security personnel moved in to defend him. Panicked aides bundled him back into the car as police pinned down the suspect.

Wiranto sustained two stab wounds to his stomach and is conscious and in a stable condition, doctors said. An aide, a police officer and a university employee were also injured. A husband and wife have been arrested in relation to the attack.

“For the time being, the suspicion from Banten police is the man is likely to have been exposed to Isis radicalism while the woman is still being investigated,” said the national police spokesman, Dedi Prasetyo.

Wiranto was named security minister in 2016 and wields significant power in Indonesian politics. In recent months he has overseen the government response to a series of rolling protests in West Papua.

The controversial former general headed the Indonesian military during the occupation of East Timor and while he has never stood trial stands accused of human rights abuses. As chief security minister, Wiranto oversees five ministries including foreign, interior and defence.

Indonesia, which is the world’s biggest Muslim-majority country, is grappling with a resurgence in militancy. The government scrambled to tighten its anti-terrorism laws after a series of suicide bombings linked to the Isis-inspired Jamaah Ansharut Daulah group killed more than 30 people in the city of Surabaya last year.

Hundreds of people have been detained under the new laws since the beginning of 2019.

(Reuters contributed to this report)