JAKARTA (Xinhua) — The Indonesian police’s counterterrorism squad has arrested nine people on suspicion of terrorism activities in three separate operations, police said on Friday.
Ahmad Ramadhan, spokesman of the National Police, told reporters that five suspects were arrested in South Sumatra on Wednesday, who had alleged ties with homegrown extremist group Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), which is linked to the Islamic State (IS) terror group.
On Thursday, counterterrorism squad officers arrested one suspect in West Kalimantan and four others in West Nusa Tenggara, who were affiliated with homegrown extremist group Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), also linked to the IS group.
The JAD is responsible for a string of attacks in the archipelago, including a suicide bombing at a cathedral in Makassar City on Sulawesi Island in March last year and several suicide bombings at churches in East Java in 2018, which killed a dozen people.
The group was declared an illegal organisation in 2018. Meanwhile, the JI was behind the 2002 Bali bombings, which killed more than 200 people on the holiday island. All suspects, the spokesman said, were still under further investigation by police. The country’s National Police chief Listyo Sigit Prabowo recently urged vigilance against terrorist activities as Indonesia is currently entering election mode.
The Southeast Asian country is set to hold a presidential election in February next year. “Terrorism must be a serious concern. There were six terror attacks during the 2019 elections, and this must not happen in the 2024 elections,” he said on Tuesday.
