Gen Haiti said a suspected militant was killed in a gun battle in central Sulawesi, the hiding place of Indonesia’s most wanted militant, Abu Wardah Santoso, who leads the East Indonesia Mujahidin network that has pledged allegiance to the IS.
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Jakarta’s chief of police says Indonesia is hunting terror cells believed to have been involved in the attack on the capital.
Jakarta police revealed that arrest have been done on the basis of obtained evidence connected with the terrorist bombing at Sarinah, reports The Himalayan Times.
Earlier on Saturday, Indonesia said it had shut down at least 11 radical websites and several social media accounts, including several on Facebook that expressed support for the Jakarta attack.
They may not be an ‘existential threat, ‘ but attacks like the ones that hit Indonesia have been changing how we live.
“It sounds like the Paris attack to me”, he said. “BIN (Indonesia’s National Intelligence Agency) has already been given signals for possible terrorists attacks since November 2015”.
The Indonesian police have rounded up at least five more suspected militants in connection with Thursday’s terror attack in the heart of Jakarta.
The police chief said Afif has been recruited to IS by Indonesian extremist Bahrum Naim, who is believed to be a founding member of Katibah Nusantara and who police say orchestrated Thursday’s attacks from Syria. Whether or not IS had a direct role in the attack, supporters of the group were quick to claim responsibility online, conveying a message that its global reach is growing. A couple of hours later police said they were combing the building and they later declared the area secure.
He said one of the 12 had received funding from Bahrun Naim, who is fighting for Islamic State in Syria, through a transfer through Western Union.
All of the attackers, including two previously convicted militants, were killed. Naim is accused of planning the bombing from Syria, where he now fights for Islamic State militants.
The last major militant attacks in Jakarta were in July 2009, with bombs at the JW Marriott and Ritz Carlton hotels.
The attack Thursday was a “wake-up call” for South-east Asian nations because it showed the radicalisation of Islam in the region, said Tang Siew Mun, a senior fellow at the Institute of Southeast Asian Studies-Yusof Ishak Institute in Singapore.
Alarm around the world over the danger stemming from Islamic State rocketed after the Paris attacks and the killing of 14people in California in December.
Dozens of Indonesians rallied Friday at the scene of the blasts outside a shopping mall, carrying flowers and shouting, “We are not afraid!”
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Close to 13 percent of the world’s Islamic population lives in Indonesia. The day after the attack, newspapers across the country carried bold front-page headlines declaring Indonesia is united in condemnation of the attack, which is the first in the country since 2009.
