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Terror threat in Indonesia
23/12/2005 16:44 - (SA)
Jakarta - Tens of thousands of Indonesian police switched to high alert on Friday amid threats of Islamic extremist attacks over the holiday period, five years after deadly Christmas Eve bombings.
About 61 000 security forces were fanning out across the world's most populous Muslim nation, as Christians, who comprise about five percent of Indonesia's more than 220 million people, prepared to attend weekend church services.
Bombs disguised as gifts
Indonesians and foreigners were warned of potential gift-wrapped bombs or explosives tossed into public places, while they have been urged to stay on alert for kidnappings as extremists switch tactics to elude beefed-up security.
Jakarta's police chief Firman Gani said extremists may be plotting revenge attacks in the wake of anti-terror police successfully tracking down and killing terror kingpin Azahari Husin in a hail of bullets last month.
Still at large
Azahari's accomplice, Noordin Mohammad Top, remains on the loose. Both men were key members of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) group blamed for a string of attacks, including the 2002 bombing on the resort island of Bali. That gruesome attack left 202 people dead, mostly Western tourists.
Al-Qaeda-linked JI's first major offensive, however, was a co-ordinated bombing campaign across several Indonesian cities, including the capital Jakarta, on Christmas Eve in 2000. Nineteen people were killed.
Analysts say Azahari and Top may have splintered from JI to form their own hardline group intent on causing further deaths. Documents uncovered at Azahari's hideout in the East Java resort town of Batu indicated attacks over Christmas and New Year were being planned, said police.
- AFP
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