Six Suspected Islamic State Militants Shot Dead in East Java's Tuban
Tuban. Six suspected members of an Islamic militant group were shot dead in Tuban district, East Java, on Saturday (08/04), after a drive-by shooting targeting police officers.
After a police chase, the suspected terrorists abandoned their vehicle in Suwalan, Jenu subdistrict, and attempted to flee into a plantation where they were all killed in a second gun battle, East Java Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Frans Barung Mangera said.
"By around 5 p.m. we had immobilized all of them," Mangera said, confirming that all six had died during the incident. A box of 9 mm bullets was found in their vehicle, he said.
Police were monitoring the vehicle prior to the attack, in connection with Friday's arrest of three suspected members of the group, Jemaah Anshorut Daulah (JAD), who were allegedly planning an attack on a police station and had bought M16 machine guns from the southern Philippines.
"We tried to stop that vehicle, but it didn't," Mangera said, adding that those in the vehicle "took out weapons and shot at officers."
Indonesia has had some major successes tackling militancy, but there has been a resurgence of Islamist activity in recent years, some of it linked to the rise of Islamic State.
The most serious incident last year was in January when four suicide bombers and gunmen attacked a shopping area in central Jakarta.
JAD is an umbrella organization on a US State Department "terrorist" list that is estimated to have drawn hundreds of Islamic State sympathizers in Indonesia.
Recent attacks by Islamic State sympathizers have mostly been poorly organized, but authorities believe about 400 Indonesians have left to join the militant group in Syria, and some could pose a more deadly threat if they came home.
Reuters
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