Indonesian police gearing up to hunt down terrorists

Bombing action is haunting Indonesia again after parcel bombs sent to three different places in Jakarta last month and the suicide bombing in Cirebon Police`s mosque on April 11, the police found another bomb hidden under a gas pipeline in Serpong, Banten province.

In a latest case, security authorities have found a large-scale time bomb hidden under the gas pipeline of state gas company PGN at Cihuni village, Serpong in Tangerang regency on Thursday. The bomb was found under the gas pipeline only 100 meters away from the Christ Cathedral at Serpong.

The ongoing terrors prompted President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono recently to declare red alert against bombings and ordered security personnel to hunt down the terrorists immediately.

Up till now, 19 terrorist suspects had been arrested and detained. According to the police, the group was not only correlated to the book-bomb but also the bomb in Serpong.

National Police`s spokesman Inspector General Police Anton Bachrul Alam on Thursday (April 21) stated the bombs in Serpong were supposed to be set off by terrorists on Friday (April 22) at 9 am on the occasion of Easter to be started at 10 am.

"The bomb has a detonator planned to cause major damage," he said adding that the bomb now had been deactivated by a police bomb squad. 

Meanwhile, Ansyaad Mbai, head of the National Agency for Tackling Terrorism (BNPT), said efforts to stop bomb attacks were being intensified after authorities found evidence that the terrorists who had sent package bombs were also planning more attacks, including on religious buildings.

"Those already arrested were the suspected perpetrators of the recent parcel bombing and who are also planning attacks on churches," said Mbai after a security meeting at the Presidential office.

Security personnel, he said, keep on investigating the previous attacks and other cases relating to the bomb attack.

The anti-terror expert, however, could not clearly explain if the suicide bombing in the mosque inside the Cirebon City police precinct last week was related to the earlier attacks using package bombs.

Meanwhile, National Police`s spokesman Anton Bachrul Alam stated the 19 book-bomb terrorist suspects were led by a documentary movie director with the initial P.

"P came from Aceh province. He was a documentary movie director. It is suspected that he planned to make films of the bombing action," Anton said.

The spokesman also said the suspects were a new group had learned how to spread terror through book.

After the bomb discovery in Serpong, Banten Regional Police has tightened security near churches in the area. Banten Police`s spokesman Gunawan Setiadi stated red alert had been implemented starting Friday (April 22). 

"We have dispatched 932 experienced personnel to secure churches in Banten province," he said adding that police had put metal detector in front the churches` gate and also checked all bags brought by church goers.

Changes method

Coordinating Minister for Political, law and Security Affairs Djoko Suyanto said the operational patterns of terrorists had changed from large scale with massive victims to small scale with fewer victims.

He said the change had actually been detected two years ago because the terrorist groups had become aware that large scale attacks would only cause public hatred.

"Two years ago I already said that they would change their pattern. In the past the target is wide with a lot of victims that only caused the public to hate them. Now the target is small," he said.

Djoko said whatever was the method they used their actions to be condemned because they affected the lives of the innocent and because they would justify all means to meet their goals.

They had to be condemned because "first they are evil, cruel and take the lives of innocent people. I think any religion would not justify and condemn what they did, justifying all means and taking others` lives."

Earlier Sidney Jones from the International Crisis Group said that terrorists had slowly but surely changed their method from operating in large groups to smaller ones and even down to individuals.

The change occurred because members of large groups such as Jamaah Islamiyah could easily be detected and arrested and also because of the easy access to manuals for promoting their terrorist actions.

Last March 15, unidentied people sent book bomb parcels to three different places in Jakarta. The bomb parcels were addressed to Chief of Utan Kayu Community Ulil Abshar Abdalla, Head of National Narcotics Agency Gories Mere, figure of Pancasila Youth Organization Yapto S. Soeryosumarno. A similar package was addressed to musician Ahmad Dhani a day after.

The bomb package for Ulil exploded when Commissioner Dody Rahmawan and several other officers tried to defuse it. The explosion injured two officers, Inspector II Bara Libra Sagita and Mulyana, while a police, Commissioner Dody lost an arm. 

Meanwhile, a man named Mohammad Syarif has been confirmed to be the suicide bomber that set off a bomb at the Adz Zikro mosque in the compound of the headquarters of the Cirebon resort on Friday (April 15) killing himself and wounding dozens of others including the chief of the Cirebon police city resort Adjunct Senior Commissioner Herukoco.

With the bomb strapped on his belly he entered the mosque and sat behind the police chief. Shortly after prayers began he detonated it. He died on the scene with his stomach destroyed

Source: ANTARA