Dozens of radical Islamists holed up in a school suspected of being a bomb factory melted away yesterday as security forces moved in to end a three-day armed standoff, police said.
Police and soldiers surrounded the school in Bima town, West Nusa Tenggara Province, after a bomb blast there on Monday killed a suspected terrorist.
Students and teachers armed with knives and swords prevented them from investigating the blast, leading to a tense standoff that ended peacefully when the defenders mysteriously disappeared.
National police spokesman Anton Bachrul Alam said more bombs were found in the complex when police finally gained access.
“When we entered the school, we found several bombs that had been disposed of,” he said.
“There was nobody there. We suspect they ran away to the mountains,” Alam said, without explaining how the 200 police and troops posted around the school failed to notice the suspects escaping.
Police earlier said the boarding school was linked to radical cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, who was jailed for 15 years last month for funding a terrorist group that was planning attacks against Westerners and political leaders.
Local media quoted police as saying the unidentified man killed in the blast was suspected of instructing students on how to make bombs when one of the devices exploded.
Provincial police spokesman Sukarman Husein told reporters earlier yesterday police were -trying to persuade the students to cooperate.
“If persuasion doesn’t work we’ll have to enter the school with full force some time later today,” he said.
Eight people were in custody in connection to the incident, he added.
There was a brief clash between police and protesters near the school overnight on Tuesday when supporters of the students blocked a road. The crowd pelted police with stones and police opened fire, injuring one protester.
Indonesian Minister of Religious Affairs Suryadharma Ali, who is often criticized for failing to condemn radical Islamic extremist groups, said the police had to take strong action if the school was linked to militant radicals.
“If anyone related to the bomb blasts is found to be a member of a radical group, then the boarding school must be closed and the students must be re-guided,” the Jakarta Globe newspaper quoted Suryadharma as saying.
He said the school had resisted government attempts to moderate its teachings in the past.
Police were understood to be wary of triggering a violent Islamist backlash if they cracked down too heavily on the school, despite its apparent involvement in bomb-making and religious extremism.
One of the school’s leaders was reportedly arrested last year in connection with the terror group Bashir was convicted of funding.
A student called Saban Arohmah was arrested last month for killing a police officer with a sword slash to the neck, the Kompas news Web site reported.
‘IN A DIFFERENT PLACE’: The envoy first visited Shanghai, where he attended a Chinese basketball playoff match, and is to meet top officials in Beijing tomorrow US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday arrived in China on his second visit in a year as the US ramps up pressure on its rival over its support for Russia while also seeking to manage tensions with Beijing. The US diplomat tomorrow is to meet China’s top brass in Beijing, where he is also expected to plead for restraint as Taiwan inaugurates president-elect William Lai (賴清德), and to raise US concerns on Chinese trade practices. However, Blinken is also seeking to stabilize ties, with tensions between the world’s two largest economies easing since his previous visit in June last year. At the
Nearly half of China’s major cities are suffering “moderate to severe” levels of subsidence, putting millions of people at risk of flooding, especially as sea levels rise, according to a study of nationwide satellite data released yesterday. The authors of the paper, published by the journal Science, found that 45 percent of China’s urban land was sinking faster than 3mm per year, with 16 percent at more than 10mm per year, driven not only by declining water tables, but also the sheer weight of the built environment. With China’s urban population already in excess of 900 million people, “even a small portion
UNSETTLING IMAGES: The scene took place in front of TV crews covering the Trump trial, with a CNN anchor calling it an ‘emotional and unbelievably disturbing moment’ A man who doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire outside the courthouse where former US president Donald Trump is on trial has died, police said yesterday. The New York City Police Department (NYPD) said the man was declared dead by staff at an area hospital. The man was in Collect Pond Park at about 1:30pm on Friday when he took out pamphlets espousing conspiracy theories, tossed them around, then doused himself in an accelerant and set himself on fire, officials and witnesses said. A large number of police officers were nearby when it happened. Some officers and bystanders rushed
Beijing is continuing to commit genocide and crimes against humanity against Uyghurs and other Muslim minorities in its western Xinjiang province, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said in a report published on Monday, ahead of his planned visit to China this week. The State Department’s annual human rights report, which documents abuses recorded all over the world during the previous calendar year, repeated language from previous years on the treatment of Muslims in Xinjiang, but the publication raises the issue ahead of delicate talks, including on the war in Ukraine and global trade, between the top U.S. diplomat and Chinese