Woman with gun arrested outside Indonesian presidential palace

Police say the girl brandished a semi-automatic pistol at safety officers outdoors the presidential palace in Jakarta.

Larger Jakarta police chief Muhammad Fadil Imran speaks to reporters after authorities detained a lady carrying a gun outdoors the presidential palace in Jakarta, Indonesia on October 25, 2022 [Ajeng Dinar Ulfiana/Reuters]

Authorities in Indonesia have detained a lady carrying a gun outdoors the presidential palace in Jakarta at a time when President Joko Widodo was not in his workplace, based on media stories.

Presidential official Ali Mochtar Ngabalin advised the Reuters information company the girl was apprehended at roughly 7am (00:00 GMT) on Tuesday and that she had not entered the palace compound.

The lady, who gave the impression to be in her twenties, was carrying a niqab – a veil worn by some Muslim girls which covers the hair and decrease half of the face – and was carrying a Quran when she brandished the gun close to the palace, he stated, including that she was apprehended by safety officers.

The Beritasatu newspaper, citing a police official, stated the girl was carrying an FN pistol and had walked instantly in direction of the safety officers and pointed the gun at them.

A automobile carrying Indonesian President Joko Widodo and First Girl Iriana Widodo on the presidential palace in Jakarta, Indonesia, in 2019 [Antara Foto/Puspa Perwitasari/via Reuters]

A spokesperson for the Jakarta police stated the girl was now being questioned, nevertheless it was not instantly clear what her motive was or how she had obtained the weapon.

Indonesia, which is the world’s largest Muslim-majority nation, has beforehand suffered assaults carried out by armed teams, generally focusing on authorities officers and safety forces.

Police shot useless a lady who had opened hearth on officers on the nationwide police headquarters in Jakarta on March 31 final 12 months in an assault impressed by the ISIL (ISIS) armed group.

Indonesian authorities had already been on heightened alert on the time after a suicide bombing at a Catholic cathedral throughout Palm Sunday Mass left no less than 20 folks wounded three days earlier on Sulawesi Island.