US issues Indonesia security alert ahead of election results
The US embassy in Jakarta has issued a security alert ahead of election results due on Wednesday, as Indonesian authorities have arrested nearly 30 suspected militants, including some who police say are able to detonate bombs using Wi-Fi networks.
The embassy advised US citizens to avoid areas where large demonstrations may occur in Jakarta, and in other cities including Surabaya in East Java and Medan in North Sumatra, in a statement that was dated on Friday.
Indonesian authorities have said they are heightening security ahead of May 22, when the official result of last month’s presidential election will be announced.
Indonesian National Police spokesman, Muhammed Iqbal, told reporters in a briefing on Friday that police this month have arrested 29 suspects linked to Jemaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) - the largest Islamic Statelinked group in the country - and confiscated at least five homemade bombs in various locations across Java and North Sulawesi.
Some of the suspects have had paramilitary training and went to Syria as foreign
fighters, Iqbal said.
Indonesian police also revealed that some of the suspects have learned how to use Wi-Fi to detonate explosive devices, but it was not immediately clear how advanced their plans were.
Detonating bombs using a Wi-Fi network is considered a new technique, Dedi Prasetyo, another National Police spokesman, said, and gets around using phone signals, which can be jammed during rallies involving large crowds.
“If there is (cell phone) jammer, then phones are not operable but the Wi-Fi signal will not be disturb, especially when using signal amplifier,” Prasetyo said.
The police spokesmen did not answer or return phone calls to get more information.
The police arrested EY, a local leader of JAD in Bekasi, near the capital Jakarta, on May 8 for plotting attacks during next week’s announcement of the presidential election. The police identified the suspect only by his initials.
“For this group, democracy is an ideology that they do not agree with,” Iqbal said on Friday, adding that the National Police advise people not to make unnecessary trips on the day the results are announced.