<p>Two suicide bombers who attacked an Indonesian cathedral on Palm Sunday were newlyweds who joined a pro-Islamic State extremist group, police said Monday, as they arrested others suspected in the plot.</p>.<p>About 20 people were wounded in the powerful explosion outside the church in Makassar city on Sulawesi island while worshippers celebrated the start of Holy Week.</p>.<p>Both suspects were killed instantly after they rode a motorbike into the church compound and, when challenged by security, detonated a bomb packed with nails, police said.</p>.<p>They were the only fatalities.</p>.<p>About 15 victims remained in hospital Monday, with two in intensive care for burn injuries. Four have been discharged.</p>.<p>On Monday, Indonesian authorities said the pair, identified through DNA and fingerprint testing, had been married for about six months.</p>.<p>The male suspect, who was in his mid-twenties, left his family a suicide note that said he was ready to die as a martyr.</p>.<p>The couple belonged to an Islamic study group along with several of more than a dozen other suspects arrested since Sunday over their alleged roles in the attack, police said.</p>.<p>"They each had their own role, including buying the ingredients, teaching bomb making, creating the explosives and using them," National Police Chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo told reporters.</p>.<p>Raids at several locations including at the couple's home in Makassar and others in Indonesia's capital Jakarta turned up a cache of powerful explosives and bomb-making ingredients, authorities said.</p>.<p>Sunday's attack came after the arrest of dozens of suspected militants in recent months by Indonesia's counter-terror squad.</p>.<p>A Makassar resident said the male bomber was a street food seller who lived in a rented house near his parents' home.</p>.<p>"He was nice as a kid... but when he got older he didn't really socialise around here," Nuraini, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, told AFP.</p>.<p>Police said the couple were members of Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), an extremist group blamed for series of attacks, including 2018 suicide bombings at churches in Indonesia's second-biggest city Surabaya, which killed a dozen congregants.</p>.<p>Sunday's explosion at the main Catholic cathedral in Makassar happened just after congregants finished celebrating Palm Sunday, the first day of Holy Week, which commemorates Jesus's entry into Jerusalem.</p>.<p>It comes a week before Easter.</p>.<p>JAD was also implicated in a 2019 cathedral suicide bombing in the Philippines committed by a married Indonesian couple. That attack killed worshippers and security forces.</p>.<p>Indonesia, the world's biggest Muslim majority nation, has long struggled with attacks by Islamist extremists, including the 2002 Bali bombings which killed more than 200, mostly foreign tourists.</p>
<p>Two suicide bombers who attacked an Indonesian cathedral on Palm Sunday were newlyweds who joined a pro-Islamic State extremist group, police said Monday, as they arrested others suspected in the plot.</p>.<p>About 20 people were wounded in the powerful explosion outside the church in Makassar city on Sulawesi island while worshippers celebrated the start of Holy Week.</p>.<p>Both suspects were killed instantly after they rode a motorbike into the church compound and, when challenged by security, detonated a bomb packed with nails, police said.</p>.<p>They were the only fatalities.</p>.<p>About 15 victims remained in hospital Monday, with two in intensive care for burn injuries. Four have been discharged.</p>.<p>On Monday, Indonesian authorities said the pair, identified through DNA and fingerprint testing, had been married for about six months.</p>.<p>The male suspect, who was in his mid-twenties, left his family a suicide note that said he was ready to die as a martyr.</p>.<p>The couple belonged to an Islamic study group along with several of more than a dozen other suspects arrested since Sunday over their alleged roles in the attack, police said.</p>.<p>"They each had their own role, including buying the ingredients, teaching bomb making, creating the explosives and using them," National Police Chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo told reporters.</p>.<p>Raids at several locations including at the couple's home in Makassar and others in Indonesia's capital Jakarta turned up a cache of powerful explosives and bomb-making ingredients, authorities said.</p>.<p>Sunday's attack came after the arrest of dozens of suspected militants in recent months by Indonesia's counter-terror squad.</p>.<p>A Makassar resident said the male bomber was a street food seller who lived in a rented house near his parents' home.</p>.<p>"He was nice as a kid... but when he got older he didn't really socialise around here," Nuraini, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, told AFP.</p>.<p>Police said the couple were members of Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), an extremist group blamed for series of attacks, including 2018 suicide bombings at churches in Indonesia's second-biggest city Surabaya, which killed a dozen congregants.</p>.<p>Sunday's explosion at the main Catholic cathedral in Makassar happened just after congregants finished celebrating Palm Sunday, the first day of Holy Week, which commemorates Jesus's entry into Jerusalem.</p>.<p>It comes a week before Easter.</p>.<p>JAD was also implicated in a 2019 cathedral suicide bombing in the Philippines committed by a married Indonesian couple. That attack killed worshippers and security forces.</p>.<p>Indonesia, the world's biggest Muslim majority nation, has long struggled with attacks by Islamist extremists, including the 2002 Bali bombings which killed more than 200, mostly foreign tourists.</p>