Why not? Because they target civilians, and that is immoral? No — because Indonesia is “not a combat zone.” So presumably such ops are just fine in Israel, Britain, Spain, the U.S., and elsewhere. “Indonesia: Suicide bombings ‘not jihad’ say hard-liners,” from AKI, with thanks to the Constantinopolitan Irredentist:
Jakarta, 5 Dec. (AKI/Jakarta Post) – Islamic hard-line groups have joined a chorus of condemnation in Indonesia and elsewhere in the world against militants who used suicide bombings to wage Jihad – or holy war – in the world’s most populous Muslim country. At a seminar over the weekend, the groups called for a dialogue between them and other Muslim leaders, along with the government to discuss the issues surrounding Jihad, claiming US president George W. Bush’s ‘war on terror’ has tarnished their image.
Suicide bombs cannot be accepted as Jihad, leaders of the Indonesian Mujahadeen Assembly (MMI), Hizb ut Tahrir, the Islam Defender Front (FPI), and several other hard-line groups agreed on Sunday.
“It’s because the attackers have committed suicide in Indonesia, which is not a conflict zone,” MMI leader Abu Jibril argued.
The seminar specifically discussed the series of suicide bombings in the country, blamed widely on members of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terror group.
According to Jibril, Muslims are allowed only to launch suicide attacks for self-defence.
“The recent suicide bombings were out of the context of Islamic holy war, because they (the attackers) attacked targets instead of defending themselves from threats, such as aggression,” he said.
The problem is that the idea of self-defense is so elastic as to allow for offensive attacks. So that the morality of such attacks is in the eye of the beholder.