Indonesian police near a traffic outpost in Jakarta that was damaged by bomb blast on Feb. 14, 2016. Police said Islamic State was behind the attack that killed seven people and injured 20 others. (ucanews.com photo)
Authorities in Indonesia say they have foiled a plot to mount several attacks against three police targets in West Java following the arrest of three suspected terrorists.
Anti-terror police swooped on a residence in a suburb of Bogor, West Java on May 4 arresting three suspects and seizing what they said was bomb making equipment.
The three suspects were later identified as Anang Rachman, Abid Faqihuddin and a man only known as Mulyadi.
Police allege the trio was plotting a bombing campaign against at least three police targets in the province.
One of the men, Mulyadi, was plotting a suicide bomb attack on the Bogor police headquarters, National Police spokesman Inspector General Setyo Wasisto told reporters.
"The suspects planned to assemble a powerful homemade bomb," he said.
The arrests underscore just how serious the threat from terrorism is in Indonesia, according to Al Chaidar a terrorism expert from Malikussaleh University in Aceh.
"The threat from terrorism remains a very real and serious problem. At least 300 trained terrorists are ready to launch attacks in near future. It is not a small number," he said.
He also pointed to the arrest of 10 terror suspects in raids across West Java in January.
Police, government and non-Muslims are being targeted, he added.
Fears of possible attacks on police or other state targets have grown in the wake of hardliners branding Indonesian President Joko Widodo "un-Islamic" for having targeted radical Islamic groups such as the banning of Hizbut Tahrir and the attempted banning of veils in universities.
At least four policemen were killed in attacks in June last year, including a bomb attack at a bus terminal in Jakarta that killed three policemen.
Last year, police arrested 172 suspected terrorists, slightly up from 163 in 2016. In 2015, there were 73 suspected terrorists who were arrested.
