A knife-wielding attacker suspected of carrying out a lone terrorist act sat with worshippers in an Indonesian church before rushing the priest.
A priest was slightly injured after a suicide bomber attempted to attack him during a church service in Medan, the capital of Indonesia's North Sumatra province.
Father Albert Pandiangan received a minor stab wound on his left arm when the perpetrator, identified as Ivan Armadi Hasugian, tried to stab him with a kitchen knife, North Sumatra police spokeswoman Senior Commissioner Rina Sari Ginting said on Sunday.
Based on an account by a member of the congregation, the perpetrator was sitting among worshippers when he prepared a makeshift bomb in yellow pipes, Ginting said.
He then stood up and the bomb exploded in his backpack, injuring himself before running towards the priest and attacking him, the spokeswoman said.
"The pastor managed to escape as the congregation managed to restrain (the attacker)," Ginting said, adding that none of the congregation members were hurt.
Police vacated the church and secured the surrounding area to search for more evidence.
They also confiscated Hasugian's backpack which contained items displaying a logo that resembled that of the Islamic State terrorist group.
Hasugian confessed that he was not acting alone in his attempted attack and that someone else had ordered him to carry it out, Ginting said.
