North Sumatra Police Arrest Four Linked to Sunday's Knife Attack
Medan. Authorities arrested four people linked to Sunday's (25/06) knife attack at a checkpoint near the North Sumatra Police headquarters in Medan that killed one officer.
Two men, identified only by the initials SP and AR, attacked police at a security checkpoint in front of the North Sumatra Police headquarters early Sunday morning, hours before the Eid prayer marking the start of Idul Fitri. One officer suffered fatal knife wounds.
SP is currently receiving treatment for a gunshot wound inflicted by security forces, while AP was shot dead during the attack.
The four arrested by police include SP's wife, who was detained later on Sunday.
"We have determined that four other suspects might have helped the attackers obtain [Islamic State] propaganda," North Sumatra Police chief Insp. General Rycko Amelza Dahniel said.
Rycko also said the four suspects allegedly helped SP and AR prepare for and coordinate Sunday's brazen attack, and that the cell might have been in communication with Bahrun Naim, an Islamic State militant believed to be the mastermind of several recent terror attacks in the Southeast Asian country.
"These suspects are people who support all forms of activities of Bahrun Naim as the Islamic State's front man," Rycko said.
Militants of Naim's Indonesian cell, known as the Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) terror network, have carried out a string of attacks in recent years on the nation's security forces. In May, twin suicide bombers attacked the Kampung Melayu bus station in East Jakarta, killing three police officers.
As the battle for Marawi City in the southern Philippines between the army and the Islamic State-affiliated Maute group enters its sixth week, officials in Indonesia are becoming concerned that militants on Mindanao might try to cross the border to northern Sulawesi or Kalimantan and aid terrorists still at large throughout the archipelago.
Sunday's attack killed adjutant first Insp. Martua Sigalingging, who received a posthumous promotion to second inspector. Martua is survived by his wife and eight children.
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