Two Indonesian terrorists linked to Isis, al-Qaeda nabbed
The were arrested in Central Sulawesi and Central Java provinces.
JAKARTA: Indonesia’s counterterrorism force has arrested two terror suspects allegedly linked to the Islamic State and al-Qaeda in Central Sulawesi and Central Java provinces, according to an official.
Densus 88 spokesman Aswin Siregar, in a statement, said a suspect, identified through his initials MA, was arrested in Palu, Central Sulawesi on Tuesday (Nov. 14), and was allegedly a member of the Jemaah Ansharud Daulah (JAD) terrorist group, which is loyal to the Islamic State.
The other suspect, with the initials HS, was arrested in Semarang, Central Java on Wednesday (Nov. 15) and was suspected to have been a member of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) group which is aligned with al-Qaeda.
Aswin explained that MA was suspected of being connected to the Abu Oemar or Abu Umar Group which is a supporter of the Islamic State or Isis.
"Those (arrested) in Central Sulawesi were related to the AO (Abu Oemar) group," said Aswin.
Currently, investigators are working intensively to dig up more information from the detainees to track other potential suspects.
"We all hope that domestic security conditions will be conducive and will remain maintained. Densus will never stop carrying out supervision or monitoring of the activities of terrorist groups, both in networks and individually," said Aswin.
Aswin also said Densus 88 arrested 42 terrorist suspects in October and November suspected of being linked to the group led by Abu Oemar in several areas.
Two of them, namely AH alias AM, and DAM, were arrested on Nov 1 in the West Java region.
The remaining 40 suspects were arrested between Oct. 27-28.
On Oct 2-23, Densus 88 arrested 19 suspected terrorists from the JI group. HS was not related to these suspects, added Aswin.
JAD was blamed for a series of suicide bombings in recent years in Indonesia and the southern Philippines.
JI was tagged in the 2002 Bali bombings and 2003 Jakarta Marriott hotel bombing.