Police kill militants in Indonesian raid

JAKARTA, Indonesia — Members of Indonesia’s elite anti-terrorism squad fatally shot two suspected militants and arrested two others during a raid Sunday on the main island of Java.

The suspects were shot by the anti-terror unit after refusing an appeal from authorities to surrender from their safe house at Jatiluhur reservoir in West Java’s Purwakarta district, said national police spokesman Brig. Gen. Rikwanto.

Rikwanto, who goes by one name, said two suspects were captured alive, including one who was injured and taken to a police hospital in the capital, Jakarta.

He said police seized several machetes and documents from the suspects’ floating house near the reservoir, including a will in which they stated that they had pledged their allegiance to the Islamic State extremist group.

Three suspected militants were killed in a gunbattle last week on the outskirts of Jakarta. Police said the three were planning a New Year’s Eve suicide bombing.

Police said the holiday season plot was uncovered during the interrogation of militants who were planning a suicide bomb attack on a guard-changing ceremony at the presidential palace in Jakarta.

Police have said that foiled plot, in which a woman was to be the suicide bomber, was orchestrated by Bahrun Naim, an Indonesian with the Islamic State group in Syria. They also say Naim was behind a bomb lab that was raided last month in West Java that contained enough explosive materials to make bombs three times more powerful than those used in the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people.

The government has increased security across Indonesia. It has deployed 150,000 security personnel to safeguard churches, airports and other public places.