- Title: Indonesia foils plot to bomb state palace
- Date: 11th December 2016
- Summary: PHOTO OF EXPLOSIVE DEVICE
- Embargoed: 26th December 2016 06:01
- Keywords: Indonesia militants security state palace bomb
- Location: JAKARTA, BEKASI, INDONESIA
- City: JAKARTA, BEKASI, INDONESIA
- Country: Indonesia
- Reuters ID: LVA0025CFUOUD
- Aspect Ratio: 16:9
- Story Text:EDITOR PLEASE NOTE: THIS EDIT CONTAINS 4:3 CONVERTED MATERIALS
Indonesian counter-terrorism forces arrested four people suspected of planning a bomb attack on national landmarks, police said on Sunday (December 11).
Police on Saturday (December 10) raided a dormitory in Bekasi, a town about an hour outside Jakarta, and found an unexploded bomb. Police said the plan was to use the bomb at the presidential palace during the change of guard.
"Densus 88, the counter-terrorism forces, arrested suspects who planned to attack a 'national vital object'. Thanks to their efforts we were able to prevent it from happening," national police spokesman Awi Setiyono told reporters at a news conference.
The alleged plan was foiled when police intercepted a letter one of the suspects had intended to send to her parents stating her intention to carry out jihad, a police statement released on Saturday said.
"They are motivated from the message of militant groups, which is: 'if you cannot join the forces in Syria you should create chaos in your own nation as much as you can'. That is what motivated them to launch the operation, This is what we found from the intensive investigation overnight," said Setiyono.
The arrests of three men and a woman are the latest in a security crackdown ahead of the New Year holiday season and come amid concerns of a rise in Islamic State-inspired radicalism in the world's largest Muslim-majority country.
Authorities say Islamic State has about 1,200 sympathisers in Indonesia and dozens are known to be fighting with the hardline Sunni militant group in Syria and Iraq. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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