Suspected terrorists tested bomb materials: Police

A terrorism network in Aceh carried out tests on explosive materials they planned to use to make bombs with, the National Police said Thursday.

The preliminary finding was announced after police raided the residence of Muhammad Fadil in Aceh, and the subsequent discovery of various bomb materials at the house.

Fadil is a suspected member of a terrorism network behind several recent bomb attacks and bomb threats in and around Jakarta.

Police found that many of the bomb materials "were no longer intact", National Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Boy Rafli Amar said.

Investigations will now focus on checking whether the suspects planned to transport the bomb materials to Jakarta.

The network was allegedly behind operations in several locations, including Jakarta and Serpong.

Boy added that police had not found any ready-made bombs in the raid.

"Police found basic ingredients ready to be mixed," he said, adding that they had found "quite a lot" of evidence, including sulfur and potassium nitrate, that were all now being studied.

"Aceh Police is conducting further investigations as to whether other parties were involved with these explosives," he said.