Bombing at the Temple of the Kyber

In 382 BBY, vigilante and former member of the Guardians of the Whills Tey Sirrek discovered that there had been robberies of artifacts all over the Holy City of the Pilgrim Moon Jedha. He arranged a meeting in the Wayfarer Quarter of the Shrine of Sarrav with a Sarravi woman named V'Kara who had information about the robberies, but was not listened to by the groups she went to with her information. However, he found her body dead and was found standing over it by Jedi Master Vildar Mac and Jedi Padawan Matthea Cathley, who he had run into in the Jedha marketplace earlier that day. He used his Sephi pheremones to temporarily paralyze Mac, but the Jedi eventually found him in a bar called to Enlightenment. Sirrek introduced himself to Mac, claiming he was a righter of wrongs, with Minst adding that he was a Sephi. When Mac claimed Sirrek was a murderer, Sirrek showed him a hologram recording that his droid projected and explained that he had discovered her dead and was really going to meet with her about missing artifacts. He also explained that he had used no magic against Mac and explained the special pheromone. He then gave Minst extra credits for his trouble and left, ignoring Padawan Cathley's suggestions at working together.

Sirrek then met with a Condluran named Briff, knowing that Briff bought special items. and spotted that he had a statue of a starbird made out of kyber crystal which he recognized from the Temple of the Kyber, where he had once worked as a Guardian of the Whills. Briff held a blaster to him, but then Master Mac jumped down from above and disarmed Briff, but they had another blaster in their other sleeve and shot at the Jedi. Sirrek jumped in the way of the bolt, though was not hurt due to his body armor. After Briff took off in a speeder, Cathley commented that they had lost their only lead, and Sirrek confirmed that he had been trying to find out who was in the market for stolen artifacts. He told them that he knew where the statue of the starbird was from, saying that it was an incredibly big deal.

The three then went to the Temple of the Kyber to present their findings to the Guardians of the Whills, but they were instead confronted by them holding lightbows to them because of the presence of Sirrek. After arresting Sirrek, Mac, Cathley, and Archivists Zumeg and Feric Oranalli went to Zumeg's office in the Temple of the Kyber to check the logs of the security cameras of the Temple in the hopes of uncovering who had stolen the artifact, which was the Firebird of Colsassa, from the Temple.

As the Jedi were escorted in, Sirrek snuck into the Temple to also check the logs. As Sirrek arrived at the office he saw a bomb. He attempted to deactivate it, but was seen by Mac to be in possession, and Mac believing that Sirrek had meant to activate it, pushed it out of Sirrek's hand, causing it to hit a wall and set off.

In the resulting explosion, Mac used the Force to protect the archivists as well as Cathley from the explosion, and he was wounded as a result. Mac was taken to the Convocation Building where he was healed by Susalee, the representative for the Lonto on the Convocation. Despite Mac's attempts to save them all, Zumeg ultimately died as a result of the bombing, which Mac was informed when he awoke.

After the explosion was taken into custody by the Guardians, as they conducted an investigation into the bombing. The Convocation met later the same day, where it was established that whilst the investigation was taking place, the people of Jedha would be informed the bombing was a result of a buildup of gas in the catacombs beneath the Temple. The discussion was overheard by the arrival of Werth Plouth, a Nautolan who served as the Herald of the Path of the Open Hand, when he arrived to address the Convocation.

After the Convocation rejected Plouth's attempts to get the council to disband, and then his option of prohibiting the use of the Force until the Herald could provide proof of the Path's belief that use of the Force resulted in an imbalance that would have consequences for others, he left the chambers and spoke to the citizens of the city, informing them of the developments, and also of his apparent discovery of a plot by the Convocation to deceive them. The Herald then told the citizens that the bombing at the Temple of the Kyber had not been an accident but a deliberate attack. Tarna Miak, the representative for the Sorcerers of Tund, then appealed to Plouth for him to stop, but the Herald simply continued, asking the citizens why the Convocation would lie and conceal the true nature of the bombing, questioning if it was to protect the upcoming Festival of Balance or to protect their reputation. As the Guardians approached the Herald and also tried to get him to stop, Plouth raised the possibility that the truth had been hidden because one of the member religions had been at fault for the bombing. The Herald's questions threw the crowd into uproar as they demanded to know more, and when a Guardian hit Plouth with a staff, the crowd declared they could not do that and demanded he be allowed to speak. As the sitaution grew worse, the Jedi drew their lightsabers and Miak readied themselves to try to calm the crowd down, though the Sorcerer felt it may be too late to try diplomacy. The Leveler, a creature that could cause madness and hallucinations in Force-sensitives, then revealed itself from behind a stall, and began to overwhelm Miak after the Sorcerer looked at the creature. Miak began to see all around them as monsters, and the Sorcerer threw everyone into the air. The uproar Plouth had caused in the crowd led to riots which ultiamtely resulted in the Battle of Jedha.

• Star Wars: The High Republic Character Encyclopedia