TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Police foil terror plot to attack viharas in Tanjung Balai
Under control: A bomb disposal officer examines an improvised explosive device siezed from two terror suspects in Tanjung Balai, North Sumatra, on Friday
Change Size
U
nder control: A bomb disposal officer examines an improvised explosive device siezed from two terror suspects in Tanjung Balai, North Sumatra, on Friday.(JP/Apriadi Gunawan)
The North Sumatra Police have claimed that two suspected terrorists killed in a raid in Tanjung Balai on Thursday had planned to attack Buddhist temples and police stations in the religiously diverse municipality.
The National Police’s Densus 88 counterterrorism squad seized seven makeshift bombs containing nails, improvised firearms, ammunition and seven containers of explosive powder from the two suspects.
“They planned to attack temples, police stations and other vital installations in Tanjung Balai,” North Sumatra Police chief Insp. Gen. Agus Andrianto told reporters on Friday.
Tanjung Balai has seen rising sectarian tension in recent years following a 2016 incident in which a Buddhist woman of Chinese descent was accused of defaming Islam for complaining about the volume of a loudspeaker of a local mosque.
The incident triggered a riot that led to the burning of several Buddhist temples.
The woman, Meiliana, was convicted of blasphemy and sentenced to 18 months in prison in August this year.
Agus said that the two suspects, identified only as AN, 26, RI, 23, were shot dead after a shootout on Jl. Jumpul in Teluk Nibung district on Thursday afternoon.
“They attacked the officers by firing shots.”
The police believe that both suspects were members of Jemaah Ansharud Daulah (JAD), the country’s largest pro-Islamic State (IS) group, which is responsible for a number of terror attacks, including the Surabaya , East Java, bombings that killed dozens of people.
“We have investigated this terror cell after one of its members was killed [in Tanjung Balai] in May,” Tanjung Balai Police chief Irfan Rifa said.
The police claimed that Tanjung Balai was secure even though they had declared a siaga 1 security alert in the region.
Irfan said he was confident that the terror incidents would not disrupt the preparations for the 2019 legislative and presidential elections.
Tanjung Balai Mayor M. Syahrial has called on village heads to be more vigilant following the police’s decision to raise the security alert in the region.
He said he believed that Tanjung Balai was safe while acknowledging that the Meiliana blasphemy case and the recent terror raids had given the impression that it was not.
“Tanjung Balai is very safe. There is nothing to worry about for we always coordinate with the security apparatus,” he said.
The Meliana case has put Tanjung Balai in the spotlight.
Meiliana reportedly said the adzan (call to prayer) was “too loud” and “hurt” her ears, and asked a neighbor to lower the speaker’s volume.
Her remark is believed to have triggered the worst anti-Chinese riot in the country since 1998, with people who claimed to have been offended by her words burning several Buddhist temples. The police arrested 19 people for their roles in the riot.
The country, meanwhile, has been a target of terror attacks by local extremist groups linked to the IS group, which remains influential despite losing territories in Iraq and Syria.
In May, JAD militants carried out suicide bombings at three churches in Surabaya. The bombings left 25 people dead, including the perpetrators and their family members.
A recent report released by the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict warned that pro-IS groups remained a threat in Indonesia.
