Anti-terror police arrested nine suspected Muslim militants and seized a large cache of high-powered bombs, foiling a major attack targeting Westerners in the Indonesian capital, police said today.
Among those detained was a Singaporean who allegedly met several times with Osama bin Laden and received training in Afghanistan.
The men allegedly first planned to attack foreign tourists on Sumatra Island, but decided to target Jakarta instead after realising too many Indonesian lives could have been lost, TVOne quoted anti-terror police as saying.
The timing and exact location of the planned strike were not immediately known.
A police general said 22 bombs were seized during raids in Palembang, a coastal city on Sumatra, some packed with bullets to maximise the impact of the blast.
Sixteen were ready to explode, local media newspaper reported, adding that dozens of kilograms of explosive powder, grenades and several electric detonators also were recovered.
All nine were flown to the capital this morning, where they will be charged with violating anti-terrorism laws. If found guilty, they face a maximum penalty of death. Black masks covered their faces as they were led onto the police aircraft in Palembang.
Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, has been hit in recent years by a string of suicide bombings that have killed more than 240 people.
The attacks have been blamed on the regional terror group Jemaah Islamiyah and a breakaway faction committed to al-Qaeda style attacks on Western, civilian targets.
The government has won praise for arresting and convicting hundreds of Islamic militants, leaving the network severely weakened and isolated, according to experts. That prompted the United States earlier this year to lift a travel warning imposed on the country more than eight years ago.
AP