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Police Kill Three Terror Suspects, Arrest 15
MEDAN - Indonesian anti-terror police shot dead three suspects and arrested 15 others in a series of raids in which militants used women and children as human shields, police said Monday.
Police confirmed that raids on Sumatra island targeted Islamist militants linked to regional extremist network Jemaah Islamiyah and unidentified foreign groups which were plotting attacks in the archipelago.
The suspects were behind a bank robbery in the Sumatran city of Medan on August 18 in which heavily armed gunmen escaped with around 40,000 dollars, police said.
"They committed the robbery to collect funds to buy firearms, grenades and other weapons to commit terror acts in Indonesia, especially North Sumatra," national police chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri told a press conference in Medan.
He said 15 suspects remained at large, including at least one who had fled overseas.
The group was connected to a militant outfit that was discovered in Aceh, northern Sumatra, in February, leading to the killing and arrest of scores of suspects.
"We'll continue to investigate but we suspect they're supported by overseas networks," the police chief said, when asked if there was a link to Al-Qaeda.
Details of Sunday's raids emerged slowly and police remained tight-lipped until Danuri flew to Medan from Jakarta to be debriefed by officers in the field.
The US- and Australian-trained Detachment 88 is Indonesia's strike weapon against jihadist militants but it has been criticised for killing suspects and allegedly torturing detainees.
Danuri said the elite squad's latest operations took place in five locations in the provinces of Lampung and North Sumatra.
"In Tanjung Balai (North Sumatra), there was gunfire as the suspects were using women and children as human shields," he said, adding two suspects were killed in a house at the location.
Explosives and weapons including at least one semi-automatic AK-47 assault rifle were seized during the raids.
Money stolen from the Medan bank was to be used to buy weapons for future terrorist attacks in the mainly Muslim country.
Wearing motorcycle helmets and using hand signals to coordinate their movements, 16 gunmen killed a police officer and wounded two guards during the heist, the most spectacular of a series of recent armed robberies.
Police said the thieves showed a level of training, discipline and ruthlessness that raised suspicions about links to terrorist groups.
Robberies have been a source of funds for Islamist militants in Indonesia, which has been rocked by several deadly terror attacks including the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, mainly Western tourists.
The hold-ups have also exposed a flourishing illegal trade in military-grade weapons in Indonesia, with the alleged involvement of corrupt police and military personnel.
Danuri said no police were among those arrested Sunday.
AFP
