Weapons and kit seized in a raid in Sukoharjo, Central Java,
where police arrested three suspects on Thursday.
Among the finds were a revolver, a rifle with
telescopic sight and hundreds of bullets.
Evidence from recent police raids indicates that terrorists here may be shifting tactics from suicide bombings to building the capacity to launch armed assaults, analysts said on Thursday.
More than a dozen raids have been carried out since police discovered an alleged terrorist training camp in Aceh in February. Elite antiterror police arrested three more suspects in Central Java on Thursday morning, a day after five suspects were killed in two separate clashes in East Jakarta and Cikampek, West Java.
Thursday’s arrests at a house in Sukoharjo, Central Java, believed to be used as a terrorist group hideout, brought the number of recent arrests outside Aceh to 20.
Yet police have not announced the discovery of any explosives commonly used in earlier attacks. Instead, they seized assault rifles and pistols along with thousands of rounds of ammunition.
Ken Conboy, author of “The Second Front: Inside Jemaah Islamiyah, Asia’s Most Dangerous Terrorist Network,” said Indonesia might face an attack like the one seen in Mumbai in 2008, or even kidnappings reminiscent of Abu Sayyaf in the Philippines.
“The majority of the leaders of the Aceh group are graduates from Hudaibiyah military training camp in Mindanao [southern Philippines]. I believe the [Aceh] group is preparing a major operation. Kidnappings for ransom are a lucrative means to finance their operations,” Conboy said.
In March, police who interrogated some of the 33 suspected militants captured in Aceh said they had been planning to attack United Nations offices as well as police and Army stations in the province. “The terrorists operating in Indonesia are more likely to carry out attacks with greater exposure,” Conboy said.
Noor Huda Ismail, a terrorism analyst and head of the Institute for International PeaceBuilding, said it was only a matter of time before local cells and Islamist groups were infiltrated by the regional wing of the Al Qaeda terrorism network.
“In Aceh, they are beginning to recruit members of Darul Islam,” Ismail said, referring to the group whose fight to make Indonesia an Islamic state dates back to independence.
“The graduates of the Mindanao and Afghanistan terrorism camps have better access to financial resources and expertise while the local groups provide recruits and protection, despite having different ideologies,” he said. “It is likely that Al Qaeda will approach local groups in Poso and Maluku in the future,” he said, referring to two regions hit by sectarian conflicts in the past.
Ismail agreed about the shift in tactics, particularly since the death of terrorist leader Noordin M Top and the subsequent rise of Dulmatin in his place. “Although Dulmatin was an expert bomb maker, in recent years he had begun doubting the effectiveness of suicide bombings,” Ismail said.
Dulmatin, believed to be the mastermind of the Aceh training camp, was shot dead in a raid in Tangerang in March.
An April 20 report by the International Crisis Group said the Densus 88 police antiterror squad should also change its methods and employ a non-lethal approach to apprehending suspects.
Some of the terrorists killed recently, including Dulmatin, “could have explained the exact nature of jihadi links, including funding and training between Indonesia and the Philippines and perhaps beyond,” the report said.
The ICG also raised concerns that killing terrorism suspects would create martyrs, giving new life to the terrorist group.
Intelligence analyst Dynno Cresbon told that the Aceh group could also be planning to free two terrorists on death row, Iwan Darmawan Muntho and Achmad Hasan, who were convicted of involvement in the 2004 Australian Embassy bombing.
