Local terror risk increased in wake of Surabaya attacks: Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull

The PM says attacks in Indonesia have potentially raised the local threat as around 40 returned IS fighters remain in Australia.

Malcolm Turnbull says suicide attacks involving children at three churches in the Indonesian city of Surabaya have potentially increased the threat of terrorism in Australia.

The Prime Minister’s comments come after i ntelligence chiefs warned him of an increased threat to Australians from mass casualty terrorist attacks in Southeast Asia, in a security briefing yesterday following the deadliest attacks in Indonesia since the 2009 Jakarta hotel bombings.

The family of two adults and four children who conducted the three attacks were supporters of Islamic State and included two girls, aged just nine and 12.

A total of 14 people were killed in the attacks, including the family.

Asked what sort of culture used children as suicide bombers, Mr Turnbull described the attacks as “brutal, inhumane, blasphemous, sickeningly cruel.”

“It’s a reminder that these terrorists have got nothing to do with God. They are not defending Islam,” he told Melbourne radio station 3AW.

“They are, as President Widodo of Indonesia said, blaspheming it and defaming it, and I just want to express again our condolences to all of the victims and families of the victims in Surabaya, and repeat again our solidarity and support for President Widodo in standing up to terrorism in his country.”

Asked whether the attacks potentially increased the threat in Australia, Mr Turnbull said: “Yes.”

“In Indonesia they have 500, we think, around 500 people that have returned from the conflict zone,” Mr Turnbull said.

Australian intelligence authorities yesterday put the number of Indonesians who had returned from the Middle East after fighting with Islamic State at 1100.

“Of course the bomber, the man who used his family, killed his family in these attacks had not come back from Syria, but nonetheless it is a real challenge,” Mr Turnbull said.

He said Foreign Minister Julie Bishop’s confirmation in November that about 40 Australians had returned from the conflict zone remained “about right”.

“We keep a very close eye on these things,” he said.

“A lot of the Australians who went to fight in the conflict zone will never come back because they’ve been killed, and a number of them won’t come back obviously because they don’t want to end up going to jail here.”

Mr Turnbull conceded that some who had returned were “walking the streets” in Australia.

“We do, and we keep a very close eye on them,” he said.

“Can I just say, the challenge in Indonesia, and we’ve got to give President Widodo great credit for this, he is a young, charismatic, democratically elected leader of the largest majority Muslim country in the world, and he stands up and he stands up for the tradition of Indonesia, and he says that Indonesia proves that Islam, moderation and democracy are compatible.

“Now he’s got people who are seeking to undo that in Indonesia. We give him enormous credit for standing up to that, and seeking to maintain that great moderate tradition in Indonesia.”

.@TurnbullMalcolm is providing additional resources to the Australian Federal Police counter-terrorism effort at airports because he says the 'terrorist threat is not diminished'.

MORE: https://t.co/YOMcQf4df7 #LiveNow #auspol pic.twitter.com/RLFSvBf0pR

— Sky News Australia (@SkyNewsAust) May 15, 2018

Asked whether it was appropriate for the government to be cutting aid to Indonesia, Mr Turnbull said Australia provided our northern neighbour with “a lot of assistance on the security front”.

“I mean Indonesia is a rapidly growing economy,” he said.

“What we are negotiating at the moment with Indonesia is a free-trade agreement, the so-called IA-CEPA, and I look forward to making more progress on that.”

Ms Bishop said there was a heightened risk of terrorist attacks during the Islamic month of Ramadan.

“These horrific attacks over the weekend are a grim reminder that terrorist attacks can occur in Indonesia and that is why we are working closely with the Indonesian government and

with other partner governments in Southeast Asia to stop the scourge of terrorism,” Ms Bishop told the Seven Network.

“What was horrific about the attacks over the weekend was the use of children in the terrorist organisation.

“We have not seen that in Indonesian attacks before and this takes it to a whole new horrifying level.”