Indonesian police kill 5 suspected militants planning attacks in Bali
Source: Agencies |
March 20, 2012, Tuesday
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INDONESIAN police shot dead five suspected militants planning attacks on the resort island of Bali, including an assault on a nightclub popular with foreign tourists, the national counter-terrorism agency and police said yesterday.
The five men, who were shot dead in overnight raids on the island, were linked to the banned Jemaah Islamiah group, which carried out nightclub bombings on Bali in 2002 that killed 202 people, most of them Australian tourists, officials said.
The 2002 attacks were a watershed for Indonesia, which has the world's largest Muslim population, forcing the secular state to confront the presence of violent militants on its soil. Bali, which is majority Hindu, is a global tourist destination.
The five arrived on Bali on Saturday and surveyed La Vida Loca nightclub in the Seminyak beach resort, about 4 kilometers northwest of Kuta where the 2002 attack took place.
"Last night we have paralysed five criminal perpetrators who were planning to commit terrorist acts ... All the suspects died during the raids because they defied or shot back with pistols at the police officers," national police spokesman Boy Rafli Amar said.
"The perpetrators have surveyed several places and among them are a gold shop in Jimbaran, a money changer and cafe La Vida Loca," he said.
It was not clear how advanced the preparations for attacks were. Authorities declined to give more details of the threat or say when the attacks were scheduled.
Another national police spokesman, Saud Usman Nasution, said some members of the group were still at large.
"They have made drawings of these locations as their targets," he told a news conference.
Three people were killed in the beach resort area of Sanur and two in the island's capital, Denpasar, and police said they recovered two rifles, two ammunition magazines, 48 bullets and a balaclava.
In Sanur, witnesses saw pools of blood outside a security guard post and police forensic officers at work behind a police line.
Police earlier said the suspects planned armed robberies to raise funds and they linked the five to a group that had robbed banks in Medan on Sumatra island.
"This is an Islamic militant group, a splinter group of Jemaah Islamiah who established a training camp in Aceh," said Nasution, referring to a province on the far north of Sumatra.
Australian media quoted another senior police officer as saying it was possible the group had been planning to carry out attacks on Thursday, the eve of Nyepi, or the annual Day of Silence marking Bali's Hindu New Year.
Balinese hold parades on the eve of Nyepi, which draw large numbers of tourists, the Australian Associated Press said.
The five men, who were shot dead in overnight raids on the island, were linked to the banned Jemaah Islamiah group, which carried out nightclub bombings on Bali in 2002 that killed 202 people, most of them Australian tourists, officials said.
The 2002 attacks were a watershed for Indonesia, which has the world's largest Muslim population, forcing the secular state to confront the presence of violent militants on its soil. Bali, which is majority Hindu, is a global tourist destination.
The five arrived on Bali on Saturday and surveyed La Vida Loca nightclub in the Seminyak beach resort, about 4 kilometers northwest of Kuta where the 2002 attack took place.
"Last night we have paralysed five criminal perpetrators who were planning to commit terrorist acts ... All the suspects died during the raids because they defied or shot back with pistols at the police officers," national police spokesman Boy Rafli Amar said.
"The perpetrators have surveyed several places and among them are a gold shop in Jimbaran, a money changer and cafe La Vida Loca," he said.
It was not clear how advanced the preparations for attacks were. Authorities declined to give more details of the threat or say when the attacks were scheduled.
Another national police spokesman, Saud Usman Nasution, said some members of the group were still at large.
"They have made drawings of these locations as their targets," he told a news conference.
Three people were killed in the beach resort area of Sanur and two in the island's capital, Denpasar, and police said they recovered two rifles, two ammunition magazines, 48 bullets and a balaclava.
In Sanur, witnesses saw pools of blood outside a security guard post and police forensic officers at work behind a police line.
Police earlier said the suspects planned armed robberies to raise funds and they linked the five to a group that had robbed banks in Medan on Sumatra island.
"This is an Islamic militant group, a splinter group of Jemaah Islamiah who established a training camp in Aceh," said Nasution, referring to a province on the far north of Sumatra.
Australian media quoted another senior police officer as saying it was possible the group had been planning to carry out attacks on Thursday, the eve of Nyepi, or the annual Day of Silence marking Bali's Hindu New Year.
Balinese hold parades on the eve of Nyepi, which draw large numbers of tourists, the Australian Associated Press said.
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