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Indonesia’s Kopassus special forces unit joins police hunt for Islamic militants after suicide attacks
The attacks have put Indonesia on edge as the world’s biggest Muslim majority country starts the holy fasting month of Ramadan
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A special Indonesian military unit has joined the police in cracking down on terrorist cells amid a recent wave of suicide bombings in the world’s most populous Muslim nation, the head of the national police said.
“I called Indonesian Defence Force Commander Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto to request the involvement of the army’s special force unit Kopassus in our operation to crack down on terrorism,” National Police Chief General Tito Karnavian said.
“He approved and Kopassus has joined us since Tuesday,” Tito said on a show broadcast by the Jakarta-based private television network tvOne.
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On Sunday, a six-member family carried out suicide bomb attacks on three Christian churches in Surabaya, Indonesia’s second-largest city, killing 13 other people as well.
The following day, a five-member family carried out a suicide attack on the police headquarters in Surabaya. Four members of that family, including 14 and 17-year-old sons, died in the attack, while a 7-year-old daughter survived.
Those bombings were the first terrorist attacks in Indonesia to involve children among the suicide bombers, according to police.
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