Indonesia police arrest 9 suspected of plotting attacks

By Ainur Rohmah

TUBAN, Indonesia

Indonesian police arrested on Friday nine suspected militants accused of plotting attacks on officers.

A police spokesman in Central Sulawesi province, where a Daesh-linked militant group has a hideout, told Anadolu Agency that six of the suspects were captured in Tolitoli Regency.

"We still deepen the investigation," Hari Suprapto said without providing further details.

According to national police spokesman Rikwanto, who like many Indonesians uses one name, another three suspects were arrested in Parigi Regency in the same province.

"They were planning to damage the police station and other vital objects in the region of Central Sulawesi," he was quoted as saying by kompas.com.

"We are still investigating to know the other members of this group," Rikwanto said, adding that other alleged targets included officers guarding a bank.

During the arrests Friday, police reportedly seized some explosive-making materials including fertilizers, sulfur and nails.

Indonesian security forces have been conducting a months-long operation in the province’s troubled Poso town, where the East Indonesia Mujahideen militant group has been hiding in the jungle.

Operation Tinombala has been extended to April with security personnel pursuing remaining members of the group, whose leader Abu Wardah Santoso was killed in a shootout last year.

Santoso pledged allegiance to Daesh in 2014 and the government tightened security and focused its operation against his group after a Jan. 14, 2016 terrorist attack in central Jakarta killed four civilians and four Daesh-affiliated assailants.