The latest arrest of four terror suspects in Lampung, as part of a wider crackdown on terrorist networks since Tuesday, has highlighted the scale of the new cell led by terrorist convict Abu Omar and fugitive Santoso.

National Police'€™s counterterrorism unit Densus 88 on Friday arrested Solihin, 41, Muhammad Ali, 20, Dedy Rofaizal, 42, and Abu Nabila, 48, in separate locations in Bandar Lampung, Lampung.

Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar said on Friday the arrests were linked to other arrests of terror suspects this week.

'€œWe'€™re arresting them for a recent bank robbery,'€ said Boy.

The four were allegedly involved in a bank heist in Pringsewu, Lampung, last month.

'€œWe also believe they are part of the terrorist networks of Abu Omar and Santoso with Abu Roban as the middleman,'€ said Boy.

Abu Roban was shot dead by police in Kendal, Central Java, on Wednesday. Abu Roban was believed to have replaced Abu Omar as leader of a radical cell based in Ciledug, South Tangerang, West Java.

Terrorism expert Noor Huda Ismail of the Institute for International Peace Building said Abu Roban was involved with the organization, Indonesian Islamic State (NII).

'€œAbu Roban is part of Abu Omar'€™s network. They wage jihad against Indonesia'€™s secular government. They want to establish an Islamic state and consider anyone supporting a secular state enemies,'€ Huda said.

This ideology, according to Huda, led Abu Roban and his followers to select very specific targets for their terrorist attacks. '€œThat'€™s why the state apparatus, as a symbol of secularism, becomes their main target,'€ he said.

The arrests and killings of the suspects have shed light on the network run by Abu Omar, currently serving 10 years in prison for illegal possession of firearms. Omar known also as Muhammad Ichwan alias Indra Kusuma alias Andi Yunus alias Nico Salman is known to smuggle firearms from the Philippines to Java.

In 1990 he stayed at a military training camp run by Muslim a separatist group in Moro, Philippines.

Omar'€™s cell is known to have plotted to bomb the Singapore Embassy, and attacked the Syiah minority group and police headquarters in Ambon, Maluku, in 2005.

His cell was also involved in a failed attempt to kill then defense minister Matori Abdul Jalal in 2003.

Through his role in supplying arms to Muslim fighters in Poso, Central Sulawesi, during the early 2000 sectarian conflict, Omar formed a close bond with Santoso, the Poso terror mastermind who is now on the run.

According to Boy, the police are still hunting Autad Rawa, a link between Abu Roban and the Santoso network.

'€œAutad is the right-hand man of Santoso in mobilizing support for the East Indonesia jihad movement. He'€™s more a provocateur than operational figure in the field planning an attack,'€ said Boy.

Autad'€™s appeared on the police'€™s radar after a crackdown on a terrorist network in Enrekang, South Sulawesi, last month. The group was believed to be plotting more sectarian conflict in Poso.

Poso regency, with a population of around 215,000 was the scene of many by bloody clashes between Christian and Muslim communities which claimed around 1,000 lives and displaced 25,000, between 1997 and 2001.

After a peace pact in 2001 ended the conflict, extremists linked to the al-Qaeda affiliated Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), and its radical ideology, have been largely left undisturbed in the Christian-majority regency, though the extremists'€™ network in Poso was weakened and fractured by the 2001 peace accord.

Failure to root out radicalism, coupled with alleged police brutality in counterterrorism raids has reawakened the Islamic fighters to radicalize traumatized residents. (ogi)