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| A member of the anti-terror police takes position outside a house in the village of Batu Rengat, where police exchanged fire with suspects, in Bandung, West Java Province on Wednesday. (Reuters) |
BANDUNG, Indonesia: Indonesia’s anti-terrorism squad yesterday swooped in on the believed hideout of militants suspected of plotting to blow up the Myanmar Embassy. Multiple shots were fired as police surrounded the house for hours and called for those inside to surrender, but it was unclear whether anyone was hurt.
Deputy Chief of National Police Lt. Gen. Nanan Sukarna said the raid in Cigondewah village in West Java province was aimed at capturing four militants believed to be involved in last week’s foiled embassy attack in Jakarta.
The suspects have been living in the rented house for the last four months, Sukarna said.
National police chief Gen. Timur Pradopo told reporters after briefing President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono that shots were fired because there was resistance from the suspected militants holed up inside the house.
“Hopefully there are no casualties,” Pradopo said, adding that residents living near the house were evacuated.
An Associated Press reporter at the scene said police were yelling for the militants to give themselves up. They counted down from three and then fired.
Local broadcaster MetroTV provided live coverage of the standoff, showing an officer in black riot gear standing behind a red house holding a rifle in a neighborhood dotted with houses and rice fields.
Last week, police arrested two suspected militants in Jakarta and seized five homemade bombs from a backpack they were carrying. Their interrogation led to a rented house in the city where other explosive materials were found. The militants told authorities they wanted to retaliate against Myanmar for recent attacks on Muslims there.
Sectarian violence in Buddhist-majority Myanmar has killed scores, and thousands of Muslims have been driven from their homes.
Police said the men were part of a cell allegedly involved in recent attacks against Indonesian police.
In a separate raid on Wednesday, anti-terror police in Central Java’s Batang town fatally shot a suspected militant and arrested another for their alleged connection to a March jewelry shop robbery in Jakarta, National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar said in a text message. A semi-automatic pistol and ammunition were also seized.
Abu Roban — the alleged Jakarta branch leader of a terrorist group led by convicted militant Abu Omar — was killed after drawing his gun on police, Amar said. Sugiyanto, who goes by one name, was detained after attempting to resist arrest, he said.
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