A nursery has been forced to apologise after children were dressed in outfits similar to Isis fighters during an Indonesian independence day parade.
TK Kartika nursery staff in the city of Probolinggo, East Java, spoke of their “regret” over the incident.
They added that they had no intention to “instil violence” or promote radicalism.
Marking Indonesia’s 73rd independence day, the children held fake firearms resembling AK47s and wore black veils across their faces.
The costumes sparked outrage in the world’s largest Muslim country.
After video footage of the march appeared online, social media users blasted the costumes as “not being in accordance with Indonesian culture”.
The nursery’s head teacher, Kartika V Hartatik said they had tried to “save funds” by fashioning the costumes from props used in similar parades last year.
He told BBC Indonesia: "I regret it, I apologise very deeply.
“We never thought about the impact.
"The important thing was to take part in the parade and the children were happy using the props."
The nursery had reportedly chosen “the struggle of the prophet to increase faith and devotion to Allah” as their theme for the parade.
When the outfits were devised, Lieutenant Colonel Kav Depri Rio Saransi said nursery leaders "purely utilised props stored at the kindergarten."
He added: “There was not the slightest bit of radicalism."
Many Indonesians see the spectre of Islamic extremism as a concern as attitudes towards religious conservatism in the country have softened in recent years.
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According to the Independent, research by government intelligence agencies last year found almost a quarter of college and high school students now consider violent jihad an acceptable means to transform the nation into an Islamic state.
While the parade committee said they had not vetted the costumes before the event, they did tell participants this year’s theme was “art and culture in Indonesia.”
They added: “We held a cultural parade with the aim of promoting art and culture in Indonesia among the children, so we are sorry this happened.
"We apologise for the costumes, it was our negligence.”
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