Indonesian police shoot suspected Islamic militant after officer slashed in Independence Day attack
- The suspect was shot and taken into custody after targeting a police station in East Java
- He appeared to have been radicalised after reading online materials posted by a militant who masterminded several deadly attacks last year, said a national police spokesman
The 30-year-old suspect entered the police station in Surabaya in East Java on Saturday afternoon – Indonesia’s Independence Day – and attacked the officer on duty, according to a police intelligence report.
A second officer suffered a bruised face during the incident, said the report.
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National Police spokesman Iqbal Alqudusy said the suspect appeared to have been acting alone and became radicalised after reading material posted online by Aman Abdurahman, a militant who was last year sentenced to death for masterminding a string of deadly militant attacks across Indonesia.
Abdurahman is considered the ideological leader of Jemaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), a loose grouping of Islamic State sympathisers in Indonesia.
The police officer who was slashed was being treated in hospital. It was unclear the extent of injuries sustained by the attacker, who was being interrogated.
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Indonesia, the world’s biggest Muslim-majority country, is grappling with a resurgence in militancy.
The government scrambled to tighten its anti-terrorism laws after a series of suicide bombings linked to JAD cells killed more than 30 people in Surabaya last year.
Hundreds of people have been detained under the new laws since the beginning of 2019.
Police last month said authorities had arrested a suspected militant plotting Independence Day bomb attacks and they believe he was part of a network behind violence in the Philippines that also has ties to Islamic State in Afghanistan.
