ICC Note: As church-goers were finishing a New Year’s Eve service in Selangor, Malaysia, two groups of eight motorcyclists facing off in front of the church threw firecrackers and ‘water bomb,’ modified from fragments of fireworks at each other and instead injured three bystanders. Initial investigations by local authorities found that the church was not the target of the attack.

01/01/2018 Malaysia (Strait Times) – A married couple and another man were injured after they were caught in the middle of a spat between two groups of men on motorcycles shortly after midnight on New Year’s Day (Monday, Jan 1).

A group of men on eight motorcycles threw firecrackers during the clash at about 12.45am as church-goers were finishing a service in Sea Park, in a Petaling Jaya suburb in Selangor, to commemorate the new year.

Malaysia news site reported that those injured were hit by fragments from a “water bomb” and firecrackers.

The attack outside the Luther Centre church left a 48-year-old man and his 45-year-old wife with minor injuries while a 45-year-old man from Zimbabwe suffered minor burns to his forehead.

Petaling Jaya district police chief Mohd Zani Che Din said initial investigations found that the church was not the target of the attack.

“It just so happened that there were two groups of motorcyclists facing off in front of the church.

“We believe they were targeting each other with the firecrackers as one fell at the side of the road while another fell near the church’s entrance,” he said when contacted.

He said that eye-witnesses at the scene could not give a clear picture of what occurred as it happened so fast and the surrounding area was dark.

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