SECURITY

Seven people arrested in connection to Bandung suicide bombing

The National Police’s counterterrorism squad Detachment 88 has arrested seven people for
alleged role in a suicide bombing at a police station in Bandung two weeks ago, a spokesman
said on Wednesday. The arrests were the latest in police’s crackdown on terrorism in recent
weeks that saw at least 26 suspects in custody for various allegations. The seven suspects are
accused of becoming an accessory to the attack on Astana Anyar police station in the West Java
capital that killed an officer and wounded seven others. "In total, Detachment 88 has arrested 26
terror suspects, including the seven who were arrested after the [Bandung] attack," National
Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Ahmad Ramadhan said. Ahmad said six of the seven suspects
knew in advance about the suicide bombing plot in Bandung, but he declined to go into details. 
The suicide bomber was identified as Agus Sujatno, who had previously served a jail term for
another attack. According to police, Agus used an improvised explosive device known as a
pressure cooker bomb laden with nails to blow himself up after he forced his way to the police
station during a roll call. In recent weeks, anti-terror operations have been conducted in five
provinces, leading to the arrests of eight suspects in Central Java, six in West Java, 10 in North
Sumatra, and one in West Sumatra and Riau, Ahmad said. (JG, AN)