by Mathias Hariyadi

Police raid over the week-end nets 11 terror suspects. News about the group started circulating in 2009 but no connection with terrorism was established. Now explosives and bombs are found in raided homes. The discovery came as a shock to civilians, raising new fears. The US and Australian embassies were among the first targets.

Jakarta (AsiaNews) - Indonesia is again faced with a terror alert, with foreign interest targeted. The police special anti-terror squad carried out a number of raids over the week-end, uncovering a new extremist cell preparing to hit foreign interests in the country. Eleven suspects were arrested.

Picked up by various news agencies and media, news about the arrests have sent shockwaves across the country as ordinary Indonesians fear more bloody outrages, like that in Bali, one of Indonesia's best known tourist spots.

On Saturday, the police Anti-Terror Squad Detachment 88 (Densus 88) burst into a number of rented homes in Jakarta, Bogor (West Java), Madiun (East Java) and Solo (Central Java), netting 11 terror suspects belonging to a new cell preparing for fresh attacks.

Identified as Harakah Sunni for Indonesian Society (HASMI), the group was ready to strike at foreign strategic targets, police said, including the US Embassy in Jakarta and a building near the Australian Embassy. Mining companies and multinational corporations were also on their list of targets.

The anti-terror squad found bombs and other explosive material in the homes in Palmerah, West Jakarta. One of the devices was "ready to be used." Police did not however reveal the target. The US Consulate in Surabaya, capital of East Java, some 90 km from Madiun, was one potential objective.

For many Indonesians, HASMI was completely unknown until 2009, when extremist Muslim groups began talking about it. Although never associated with terrorism, it began calling for the implementation of Sharia, took an anti-Israel and anti-US position and opposed new Christian churches in West Java.

 

• indonesia
• islam
• terrorism
• attacks
• minorities
• foreigners