Police kill 2 suspected militants in western Indonesia, 6 arrested

Indonesian police kill 2 suspected militants

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia — Police hunting Islamist militants in western Indonesia killed two suspects and arrested six others at a security checkpoint Friday, an official said.

One of the masterminds of the 2002 Bali bombings, Dulmatin, was shot dead near Jakarta on Tuesday. The operation was part of a monthlong series of raids that has highlighted the resilience of Southeast Asian militant networks as well as the continued pressure being applied on them by Indonesian anti-terror police.

The crackdown began after police raided a militant camp in a remote corner of Aceh province.

The Bali bombings and several others against Western targets in Indonesia since then were carried out by Jemaah Islamiyah or associated groups. Those targeted in the recent raids are believed linked to that network, which at its height in early 2000 had contacts with al-Qaida and cells across Southeast Asia.

Police killed the two suspects Friday as a group of eight tried to flee from a bus that was stopped at a checkpoint close to the Aceh capital of Banda Aceh, provincial police chief Maj. Gen. Aditya Warman said.

There was a 15-minute gunbattle before the remaining six suspects surrendered and were arrested, Warman said.

Police seized five assault rifles and a police pistol from the suspects, said a police official who declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

The pistol had been issued to one of three policemen shot dead in an ambush by more than two dozen suspected militants last week, he said.

The bus had been chartered in Banda Aceh. The driver and one passenger are not suspects, he said.

Police have killed at least seven suspected militants in Aceh and on the main Indonesian island of Java in the past month since they raided the training camp. More than 30 others have been arrested.

Several hundred people, among them relatives, curious villagers and supporters of militant Islam, attended Dulmatin’s funeral Friday in his hometown in central Java.