Parents Forgive Terrorist Bomber Who Badly Injured Their 4-Y-O Daughter: 'God Teaches Us to Forgive'

Police stand near the scene of an explosion outside a church in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, Indonesia, on Nov. 13, 2016 in this photo taken by Antara Foto.Reuters

Their four-year-old daughter was severely wounded when an Islamist extremist hurled a bomb at a church in Indonesia on Nov. 13, killing a toddler and injuring three others.

But despite the atrocity, the parents of Trinity Hutahaean said they have already forgiven the accused, identified as a former convicted terrorist linked to the Islamic State (ISIS) terrorist group. Moreover, they said they will not even ask God to punish him, the Jakarta Post reported.

Speaking in behalf of the family, Trinity's aunt, Roina Simanjuntak, said, "God teaches us to forgive and not to pay revenge."

Roina said their family is leaving it up to God on what to do to the terrorist who hurled a Molotov bomb on a group of innocent children playing in the church compound.

"I have a big hope that my family members, especially Trinity's mother, can face this hard time. She is still in trauma after seeing what happened to her child," Roina said as quoted by kompas.com.

Trinity's mother is not praying for God to punish the bomber, Roina added.

Analysts said the bomb attack at the church in Samarinda, East Kalimantan was apparently aimed at provoking religious tensions in the area.

However, the terrorist group behind the attack failed to achieve its goal since both Muslims and Christians have condemned the attack, they added.

Members of religious groups are not blaming a specific religion for the attack and have left it to government authorities to resolve the case, thus preventing sectarian conflict in the area, terrorism expert Ridwan Habib noted.

He said ISIS and other terrorist groups typically seek to trigger sectarian conflict by attacking a church, which they presumed would create tension between Muslims and Christians.

But so far there is no indication that the attack will trigger retaliation from local Christians, Ridwan said.

He said the Sunday bombing was not a random incident but a planned attack. He noted that the church bombing took place just days after ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi made a public call for all ISIS sympathisers worldwide to launch sporadic attacks wherever they are. This was the ISIS leader's response to the intensified campaign by coalition forces to liberate areas in the Middle East seized by the jihadist group two years ago.