JAKARTA, Indonesia – An elite anti-terror squad has arrested nine Islamic militants in Indonesia and seized a dozen homemade bombs from a group suspected of planning suicide attacks against security forces and the government, police said Sunday.
Two suspects were arrested Saturday in Central Java’s Solo town after authorities received information about their whereabouts from other militants in the group who had recently surrendered, said national police spokesman Brig. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar. The two were interrogated and led police to six other members of the group hours later in the same town. A ninth suspect was arrested late Saturday in West Kalimantan on the island of Borneo.
Amar said two of those arrested, Badri Hartono and Rudi Kurnia Putra, both 45, worked to recruit young men and taught at least one member of the group how to make bombs.
“They were the central figures of the group who had planned several terror attacks,” Amar said. “They recruited, invited young men to be trained in a military-style jihadi camp and bought bomb-making materials.”
He said the group had planned to bomb the country’s Parliament building, shoot police and attack members of the anti-terrorism squad.