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Saturday 23 April 2011

Indonesia on 'highest alert' through Easter

Indonesia is on high alert for the holiest period on the Christian calendar after police found a bomb near a church in a Jakarta suburb.
The device was found in in a gas pipeline about 100 meters from the Christ Cathedral, a Catholic church in Tangerang, just outside the capital, authorities said.
"Starting tonight until the day after Easter, the military and the police will be on the highest alert at all places," Coordinating Minster for Security Joko Suyanto told reporters.
Indonesia is a predominantly Muslim nation but other religious minorities, such as Christians and Hindus, are also there, and the government has been vigilant over the threat of sectarian violence.
Security will be beefed up around houses of worship, tourist destinations, embassies, and sites visited by foreigners, officials said.
Police also arrested 19 terror suspects in connection with the church bomb and/or attempted mail bomb attacks last month.
Two security officials and a police detective were injured while attempting to defuse one of the mail bombs, said Boy Rafli Amar, the national police spokesman.
The explosives were packed as fake books and sent to four targets, including a moderate Muslim scholar and a human rights activist, officials said.
Indonesia has been on edge after last month's parcel bombs and the Friday suicide bombing in a mosque in Cirebon, West Java.
The attacks are an example of a new shift in terror attacks in the nation, the International Crisis Group said.
Attackers are now coming from small independent groups instead of the larger established terror groups such as Jamaat Tawhid Anshoru or Jemaah Islamiyah, the crisis group said in a report this week.
"The emergence of these small groups undertaking jihad on their own highlights the urgent need for prevention programs -- which are virtually nonexistent in Indonesia," said Sidney Jones, a senior adviser with the group.
Friday's suicide attack in a mosque inside a police station in Cirebon killed the bomber and wounded dozens of others, police said.

 

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