JAKARTA: Dozens of suspected Indonesian militants have been rounded up after a suicide bomber linked

to the Islamic State group killed himself and wounded six others in a police station attack last week,
police said Monday (Nov 18).

About 45 suspects have been arrested since the Wednesday bombing in Medan on Sumatra island, while
two bombmakers were shot dead during a raid, according to authorities.

"The pair resisted arrest and tried to attack police with sharp weapons and an air gun," National Police
spokesman Dedi Prasetyo told reporters in Jakarta on Monday.

They had built a low-intensity bomb that the 24-year-old attacker strapped around his body, Prasetyo
added.

Authorities had earlier said they suspected the bomber was a "lone wolf", following the blast that
wounded four police officers and two civilians.

Police stations are frequent targets for radicals in the world's biggest Muslim-majority nation, which has
long struggled with Islamist militancy.

About 20 other suspects arrested since the bombing - including the bomber's wife and the couple's
religious mentor - played what police described as direct roles in the attack and had links to Jamaah
Ansharut Daulah (JAD).

The outfit is a local extremist group that has pledged allegiance to IS and carried out previous attacks,
including suicide bombings at several churches last year that killed a dozen congregants.

"The wife together with her husband (the bomber) were members of the JAD network," Prasetyo said.

"They had also attended military camp training... and were taught how to buy guns and sharp weapons,"
he added.
On Monday, some residents in Medan protested plans to bury the bomber's body in their city.

The police station attack was revenge for earlier militant arrests by Indonesia's elite anti-terror squad
Densus 88, Prasetyo said.

Last month, President Joko Widodo ordered beefed-up security after two JAD-linked militants stabbed
his chief security minister, who survived the attack.

The Southeast Asian nation of some 260 million has significant numbers of religious minorities -
including Christians, Hindus and Buddhists - who have been targeted by radical Islamist groups amid
concerns about rising intolerance.

Source: AFP/aa

Read more at https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/asia/indonesia-medan-suicide-bombing-arrests-

dozens-after-is-linked-12103922

JAKARTA: puluhan tersangka militan indonesia telah ditangkap setelah seorang pelaku bom bunuh diri
yang terkait dengan kelompok negara islam bunuh diri dan melukai enam orang lainnya dalam sebuah
serangan di kantor polisi pekan lalu, polisi mengatakan senin (Nov 18). Sekitar 45 tersangka telah
ditangkap sejak rabu pemboman di Medan di pulau Sumatra, sementara dua pembuat bom ditembak
mati dalam suatu serangan, menurut pihak berwenang. "Pasangan itu menolak ditangkap dan mencoba
menyerang polisi dengan senjata tajam dan senapan angin," kata juru bicara polisi nasional Dedi
Prasetyo kepada wartawan di Jakarta pada hari senin. Mereka telah membangun bom berintensitas
rendah yang diikat oleh penyerang berusia 24 tahun tersebut di sekeliling tubuhnya, Prasetyo. Pihak
berwenang sebelumnya mengatakan mereka mencurigai pelaku pemboman adalah "serigala penyendiri
", setelah ledakan yang melukai empat petugas polisi dan dua warga sipil. Stasiun polisi sering menjadi
sasaran radikal di negara mayoritas muslim terbesar dunia yang sudah lama berjuang dengan militan
islam. Sekitar 20 tersangka lain ditangkap karena pengeboman itu, termasuk istri sang pengebom dan
mentor religius pasangan tersebut, memainkan apa yang digambarkan oleh polisi sebagai peran
langsung dalam serangan tersebut dan memiliki hubungan dengan Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD).
Pakaian tersebut merupakan kelompok ekstremis lokal yang berjanji setia kepada kelompok dan
melakukan serangan sebelumnya, termasuk bom bunuh diri di beberapa gereja tahun lalu yang
menewaskan selusin jemaat. "Isterinya bersama suaminya (pengebom) adalah anggota JAD network,"
kata Prasetyo. "Th