14 now arrested in Indonesia for suicide bomb plot

By Ainur Rohmah

TUBAN, Indonesia

Indonesia's anti-terror force says it has now arrested 14 people on suspicion of planning suicide bombs around the country.

The men and women are accused of being members of a terrorist network led by Syria-based Indonesian national Bahrun Naim, suspected by police to have orchestrated terror attacks in Jakarta in January.

Reports Monday said that a further two people were arrested Sunday on suspicion of planning to attack some places in Java Island and its environs.

"So far, we have arrested 14 people in Bekasi related to the bomb plot," national police spokesperson Commissioner Martinus Sitompul was quoted as saying Monday by detik.com.

Among those still being held are three people, including a woman, arrested Dec. 10 at a rented house in Bekasi, West Java with a pressure-cooker bomb.

National police spokesman Gen. Boy Rafli Amar said in November that the network is suspected of working together on plots to carry out terror attacks at some government buildings and the Myanmar embassy.

"The suspected terrorists were involved in planning bombings at the parliament building, police headquarters, Myanmar embassy and two television stations, TvOne and Metro TV," Amar was quoted as saying Nov. 27 by detik.com.

The alleged plot to attack the embassy came as large demonstrations took place in front of the foreign mission to protest violence against Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar’s troubled Rakhine State.

Indonesia has been on alert against extremist activities over the past year, further heightening security measures after the January attack left eight people -- including four Daesh-linked suspects -- dead in the capital.

In 2002, Bali witnessed a series of bombings that that killed 202 people -- mostly Australians -- in an attack blamed on Jemaah Islamiyah, al-Qaeda’s Southeast Asia affiliate.