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Man dies and six others are injured in suicide bombing

A suicide bomber blew himself up outside police headquarters in Indonesia's city of Medan, wounding six people, just a month after an Islamist militant attacked a former security minister.

The motive for Wednesday's attack was not immediately clear but Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim-majority country, has suffered a resurgence in homegrown militancy in recent years, with some attacks targeting police.

National police spokesman Dedi Prasetyo said the perpetrator had died and four officers and two civilians, one of whom was a police employee, had been wounded by the blast in a car park at Medan police headquarters at 8.40am (12.40pm AEDT).

Picture of members of police forensic team inspecting the site of a bombing attack at the local police headquarters in Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia, on Wednesday.
Members of police forensic team inspect the site of a bombing attack at the local police headquarters in Medan, North Sumatra, Indonesia, on Wednesday. Source: AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara.

"All pieces found at the scene will be tested by a forensic lab to determine the type of bomb," Prasetyo told a news conference.

Indonesia's anti-terrorism unit, Densus 88, was investigating whether it was a "lone wolf" attack or linked to a radical group such as the Islamic State-inspired Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), which has carried out a series of attacks in the country, he said.

Television broadcast images showed smoke and a shower of fragments coming from the parking lot area and people rushing out of buildings around the headquarters after the blast.

The attacker, who was wearing a jacket and had backpack, had his bag checked before entering the car park near an area where people were queuing for clearance letters, North Sumatra police spokesman Tatan Dirsan Atmaja said.

Picture of police in Medan, investigating the crime scene where a suicide bomber killed himself and injured four others
Police officers inspect and stand guard at the scene of a suspected suicide bombing at Medan city police headquarters. Source: EPA/ Dedi Sinuhaji.

The attack comes a month after a suspected Islamist stabbed and wounded Wiranto, Indonesia's former security minister after he had opened a university building in Pandeglang, west of Jakarta.

Wiranto, who like many Indonesians uses just one name, has since been discharged from hospital after undergoing surgery.

The government scrambled to tighten its anti-terrorism laws after a series of suicide bombings linked to the JAD group killed more than 30 people in the city of Surabaya last year.

Picture of police, armed, outside the police headquarters in Medan, where a suicide bomber killed himself.
Police say a suicide bomber has blown himself up at a busy police station in Indonesia's third-largest city, injuring a number of people. Source: AP Photo/Binsar Bakkara.

Foreseeing an increased threat of attacks from Indonesians who joined Islamic State and have begun returning from the Middle East, police have detained hundreds of suspects since the start of the year.

Police spokesman Prasetyo said a man arrested on Tuesday in Bekasi, near Jakarta. He said the man was believed to have fought in Syria and was a suspected JAD member, though he did not draw a direct link to the attack in Medan.

Stanislaus Riyanta, a terrorism expert, said the attack in Medan could be in retaliation for the death of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, who killed himself last month during a US commando raid on his compound in Syria.

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