Indonesia police kill 3 suspected militants, defuse bombs
Dec 21, 2016
Indonesian police said three suspected militants who were planning a holiday season suicide bombing were killed in a gunbattle on the outskirts of Jakarta in the second imminent attack to be foiled in less than two weeks
TANGERANG, Indonesia — Indonesian police said three suspected militants who were planning a holiday season suicide bombing were killed in a gunbattle Wednesday on the outskirts of Jakarta in the second imminent attack to be foiled in less than two weeks.
A residential neighborhood was evacuated after bombs were found in a house rented by the men. Police said they had found five low-explosive bombs made from potassium nitrate and defused three so far. Indonesia's TVOne reported numerous controlled explosions have occurred at the location.
The men planned to stage their attack on Christmas Day or New Year's Eve, said Jakarta police chief Mochamad Iriawan. They were to stab police officers in order to attract a crowd and then detonate bombs, he said.
The three men were killed during a violent confrontation with the police's anti-terror squad in a leafy residential compound in Tangerang, a Jakarta satellite city, after refusing an appeal from authorities to surrender.
National Police spokesman Rikwanto said the men threw explosives and fired guns at police. A fourth man, who was arrested in the neighborhood, had led police to the house used by the militants.
"Every year, Christmas and New Year's events are the target of terrorists to carry out amaliyah," Rikwanto told a news conference, using an Arabic term that's a byword for suicide bombing in militant circles.
Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, has carried out a sustained crackdown on Islamic militants since the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people. But a new threat has emerged in the past several years from militants who have switched allegiance to the Islamic State group and from new recruits. An attack in the capital Jakarta in January by IS sympathizers killed eight people, including the attackers.
Police said the holiday season plot was uncovered during the interrogation of militants arrested Dec. 10 who were planning a suicide bomb attack on a guard-changing ceremony at the presidential palace in Jakarta the next day.
Police have said that foiled plot, in which a woman was to be the suicide bomber, was orchestrated by Bahrun Naim, an Indonesian with the Islamic State group in Syria. They also say Naim was behind a bomb lab that was raided last month in West Java and contained enough explosive materials to make bombs three times more powerful than those used in the Bali bombings.
A revamp of Indonesia's anti-terrorism law has languished in parliament this year and may not be seriously deliberated again until the second half of next year due to rising Muslim populism, Achmad Sukarsono, an analyst with Eurasia Group, wrote in a report. Police are particularly concerned by lack of legal powers to deal with Indonesian militants who return from Syria.
"Security forces will have to double down on surveillance efforts with the currently inadequate legal support, and the probability of them failing to prevent a terror strike will rise," Sukarsono said.
Agus Wartono, owner of the house rented to the slain men, said they became his tenants about two weeks ago. They presented themselves as drivers for motorbike taxi hailing app Go-Jek and wore its trademark green jackets, he said.
The Australian government's advice to travelers, updated Wednesday, said the terrorist threat level in Indonesia remains high. It notes that authorities have arrested people who were allegedly in the advanced states of attack planning.
Awi Setiyono, a police spokesman, said that one of the slain militants, who he named as Omen, was a convicted murderer who was radicalized in prison by a militant who had plotted an attack against the Myanmar embassy in Jakarta in 2013.
The two other slain men were members of Jemaah Anshorut Daulah, an extremist group led by radical cleric Aman Abdurrahman.
The anti-terror squad also arrested a suspected militant in North Sumatra's Deli Serdang district on Wednesday and another in Payakumbuh, a town in the neighboring province of West Sumatra. Police said they were linked to radicals who were arrested in August for an embryonic plot to fire a rocket at Singapore from the nearby Indonesian island of Batam.
___
Wright reported from Jakarta, Indonesia. AP writers Niniek Karmini and Ali Kotarumalos in Jakarta contributed to this report.
More News
After the US-China tariff deal, will Chinese factories still need Southeast Asia?
For years, Chinese manufacturers have viewed Southeast Asia as a way to reduce exposure to higher US duties on goods made in China. But a new round of tariff cuts proposed by Washington and Beijing could weaken that incentive for some products, potentially changing the economics of the strategy. Under the new US-China Board of Trade, more than 90 per cent of Chinese products on a list of goods worth US$30 billion – mostly everyday consumer items, such as toys and household goods – would return...
DeepSeek and Huawei Target a Key Source of Nvidia’s A.I. Dominance
In China’s push for self-reliance in artificial intelligence, DeepSeek and Huawei have teamed up to develop software tools for advanced chips.
Kuala Lumpur is world’s most polluted city due to haze, Singapore third, index shows
Malaysia’s capital topped a global pollution ranking on Wednesday and nearby Singapore came in third, with smoke from wildfires in neighbouring Indonesia blamed for the unhealthy conditions. A milky haze has shrouded the cities for more than a month as smoke drifted from fires on Borneo and Sumatra islands. Kuala Lumpur was the world’s most polluted major city early on Wednesday, according to Swiss monitor IQAir, with an Air Quality Index (AQI) reading of 166. Singapore ranked third at 155. The...
Indonesia targets free public schooling amid funding concerns
Indonesia is pursuing plans to make public schools free at all levels, stretching from kindergarten to university, but mounting pressure on the state budget could hinder the government from pulling off the massive undertaking, analysts have said. President Prabowo Subianto summoned his ministers last week to discuss a plan to “accelerate the implementation of free education in public schools”, according to a statement released by cabinet secretary Teddy Indra Wijaya on September 23. “Free...
Turkish Confectioner Hands Out Doughnuts to Honor the Dead
In Turkey, people who have recently lost loved ones hire doughnut makers to hand out fried dough balls, known as lokma, to honor the dead and spread their blessings.
Southeast Asia faces ‘sleeper’ food crisis from Hormuz fertiliser bottleneck
A hunger crisis could creep up on Southeast Asia if the region does not guard against export restrictions amid a fertiliser shortfall, International Chamber of Commerce (ICC) Secretary General John Denton has warned. On the sidelines of the Future of Trade Forum in Singapore on Wednesday, Denton urged the city state, as the next Asean chair, to prioritise the “sleeper issue” for the region. He argued that the real story centred on food, despite the Strait of Hormuz gridlock being widely seen as...
Seoul residents up in arms over school for North Korean defectors
Residents of a district in the South Korean capital of Seoul are up in arms over plans to build a permanent school for North Korean defectors in their neighbourhood. The dispute escalated to the point where the school’s principal dropped to her knees to beg protesters to “embrace the children”, the Korea JoongAng Daily reported. Yeomyung School, which educates middle and high school students who fled North Korea or are children of North Korean defectors, has been unable to afford its own...
Can India curb childhood obesity by banning junk food near schools?
Shivanjali Singh has worked hard to raise two healthy, athletic children in India, but worries about their ability to resist the lure of junk food constantly surrounding them. Her children, aged 14 and 10, are national-level skaters and have grown up on home-cooked food and drinks such as coconut water rather than fizzy drinks and crisps. Yet Singh, who lives in Noida in the National Capital Region, sees sugary drinks and unhealthy snacks everywhere from school surroundings to sports...
Behind closed doors, a fatal beating exposes Malaysia’s parallel boarding school rules
The death of a 14-year-old student at a Malaysian boarding school has renewed scrutiny over student safety, raising questions over whether reforms introduced after the high-profile death of Zara Qairina Mahathir last year have changed what happens behind dormitory doors. Police in Kuala Pilah, Negeri Sembilan, have detained two 16-year-old students as they investigate the death of Muhammad Idlan Fareeq Shahril. They said Idlan was caught vaping by a hostel warden on September 23. Two days later,...
Singapore jails man for slapping preschooler at bus stop over rude gesture
A man became angry after a four-year-old boy pointed his middle finger at him while he was picking up his son from preschool in Singapore. He pursued the boy to a nearby bus stop that was crowded with other young kids, grabbed the boy by the arm and slapped him hard on both cheeks. The boy, who was his son’s schoolmate, suffered bruises on his face and ringing in his ear, on top of emotional trauma that lingered for months and required his parents to change his preschool. The aggressor, Muhammad...
Malaysia Begins Repatriation of Migrants to War-Torn Myanmar Despite Critics’ Warnings
Malaysia says it is repatriating undocumented migrants from Myanmar who want to return. Critics say it is putting their lives at risk.
Philippines urged to adopt Malaysia’s lasting tourism strategy
Philippine senators have urged the Department of Tourism to stick with a single marketing campaign to build long-term international recognition, pointing to long-running successes such as Malaysia’s “Truly Asia” tagline. Newly appointed Tourism Secretary Dita Angara-Mathay was asked about her plans for the current slogan, “Love the Philippines”, during a departmental budget hearing on Monday, the Philippine Star reported. Senate finance subcommittee chairman Erwin Tulfo suggested keeping the...