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Indonesia makes arrests as Islamic State claims Jakarta attacks

JAKARTA — Indonesian police arrested three men Friday (May 26) in connection with twin suicide bombings at a bus terminal that killed three policemen, as the Islamic State (IS) group claimed it was responsible for the attack.

Police officers search a house after a raid in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia, Friday, May 26, 2017. Indonesian police arrested three suspected militants Friday for their alleged involvement in twin suicide bombings that killed three people in Jakarta, while the Islamic State group claimed it was responsible for the attack. Photo: AP

Police officers search a house after a raid in Bandung, West Java, Indonesia, Friday, May 26, 2017. Indonesian police arrested three suspected militants Friday for their alleged involvement in twin suicide bombings that killed three people in Jakarta, while the Islamic State group claimed it was responsible for the attack. Photo: AP

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JAKARTA — Indonesian police arrested three men Friday (May 26) in connection with twin suicide bombings at a bus terminal that killed three policemen, as the Islamic State (IS) group claimed it was responsible for the attack.

The elite anti-terror squad working with regular police detained the suspects in three different locations around Bandung, the capital of West Jaya province, and searched their homes, West Jaya police spokesman Yusri Yunus said.

Police identified those arrested as Jajang Iqin Shodiqin, Waris Suyitno and Abu Dafa. 

The authorities said Shodiqin has an active role in raising donations to help fund a radical Islamic boarding school in Poso, a region in Central Sulawesi that is considered to be Indonesia's terrorist hotbed where a Muslim-Christian conflict killed at least 1,000 people from 1998 to 2002. 

“The roles of each person and their group are still being investigated,” Mr Yunus said, adding that items such as Islamic teaching materials and mobile phones were seized during the raids.

The two bombers attacked the busy Kampung Melayu bus terminal in the capital late Wednesday that also injured several police officers and civilians. Police said the attack had targeted officers, using pressure cookers packed with explosives.

National police chief General Tito Karnavian said DNA tests confirmed the bombers as Ichwan Nurul Salam, 40, and Ahmad Sukri, 32, both from West Java province. He said the bombers were members of Jemaah Anshorut Daulah, a network of almost two dozen Indonesian extremist groups that formed in 2015 and pledges allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr Baghdadi. 

He said police have foiled at least two attempted attacks by the group. 
 
"They have learned how to come close to policemen and avoid intelligence detection," he said.

Wednesday's bombing was the deadliest in Indonesia since January 2016, when eight people were killed, four of them attackers, after bombers and gunmen attacked the capital Jakarta.

IS claimed responsibility through its news agency Amaq. “The executor of the attack on the Indonesian police gathering in Jakarta was an Islamic State fighter,” it said.

After visiting the attack site, President Joko Widodo said Indonesia needed to accelerate plans to strengthen anti-terrorism laws to prevent new attacks.

“If we make a comparison with other countries, they already have regulations to allow authorities to prevent (attacks) before they happen,” he said.

The president said he had ordered the chief security minister to get the revisions done as soon as possible.

Long-standing plans to reform Indonesia’s 2003 anti-terrorism laws have been held up by opposition from some parties in parliament and concerns about individual rights.

The revisions would broaden the definition of terrorism and give police the power to detain suspects without trial for longer. The changes would allow police to arrest people for hate speech or for spreading radical content, as well as those taking part in para-military training or joining proscribed groups.

Mr Muhammad Syafi’i of the opposition Gerindra party, who chairs a committee deliberating the bill, said discussions should be completed this year but there were still outstanding issues such as ensuring checks and balances on the counter-terrorism agency.

“This bill needs to be discussed in a cautious and comprehensive way because the purpose of all regulations in this country is to ensure they do not result in the slaughter of Indonesian people, ... but protect them,” he told Reuters

Indonesia has suffered a series of mostly low-level attacks by IS sympathisers in the past 17 months, but there are concerns that the sophistication is improving.

“The explosions were described by police on 24 May as ‘pretty big’, and the number of wounded and dead would suggest a still-crude but developing bomb-making capability for militants in Indonesia,” said Mr Otso Iho, an analyst at Jane’s Terrorism and Insurgency Centre (JTIC). AGENCIES

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