Indonesia police beef up security
Indonesian police yesterday announced plans to deploy some 155,000 personnel to secure the country during Christmas and New Year holidays, a day after police foiled plans for militant attacks.
Police on Wednesday foiled plans by an IS-linked group for a Christmas-time suicide bombing after they discovered a cache of bombs in a house on the outskirts of Jakarta, killing three suspected militants in the process.
Following the raids, national police chief Tito Karnavian said security would be boosted at churches, entertainment venues and public gatherings during the Christmas and New Year celebrations across the sprawling archipelago.
"Police will beef up security after these (raids)", intensifying intelligence-gathering efforts and the monitoring of social media, national police spokesman Martinus Sitompul told AFP.
Deployment of large security personnel at year-end celebrations is an annual exercise for police in the world's most populous Muslim country. The militants who were killed Wednesday had planned to stab an officer at a police station and launch a suicide bomb attack around the Christmas holidays.
Four other suspected militants were also arrested in separate raids on Java and Sumatra on the same day.
Comments