Bali terrorism plot

Father and son militants arrested over plans to attack cops

Indonesia’s counter-terrorism squad has arrested two suspected militants accused of plotting an attack on police on the tourist island of Bali.

The arrests came ahead of a ceremony on Saturday to commemorate the 17th anniversary of the Bali bombings that killed 202 people including 88 Australians.

Grieving families, survivors and representatives from several embassies laid flowers and lit incense sticks (inset) at a memorial in Kuta.

Bali police spokesman Hengky Widjaja said a man and his son were arrested just hours after a militant attacked Indonesia’s security minister with a knife in Banten province in western rn Indone Indonesia, on Thursday.

Mr Widjaja said the two had confessed to planning to attack Bali police with a bayonet. He said police were tipped about their whereabouts after interrogating suspects who were arrested on suspicion of links to Jamaah A Ansharut Daulah, a militant group aligned with the Islamic State group.

The two men were arrested on the same day as Syahril A Alamsyah, a militant who uses the nom de guerre Abu Rara, attacked Indonesia’s top security minister, Wiranto, in a brazen knife attack, Mr Widjaja said. The minister was wounded in the stomach and was recovering.

Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, has carried out a sustained crackdown on Islamic militants since the Bali bombings.

The Jemaah Islamiyah military network, which was blamed for the Bali attacks, was neutralised following the arrests of hundreds of its militants and leaders.

But new threats have emerged in recent times from Islamic State group-inspired radicals who have targeted security forces and local “infidels” instead of Westerners.

Wiranto had just stepped out of his car and was welcomed with a handshake by a local police chief in Menes community in Baten’s Pandeglang town when Alamsyah dashed forward and stabbed Wiranto while the militant’s wife, Fitri Andriana, lunged at the police chief.

The Muslim militant had been under government surveillance but police said they did not attempt to arrest him because he did not seem to pose an immediate threat.

The attack came just over a week before the inauguration of President Joko Widodo for his second five-year term in office. Mr Widodo has called the attacker a terrorist.