Striving for spectacle and economic impact, along with loss of life. “Indonesian police arrest 5 over fuel depot ‘plot’,” from CNN, October 22:
JAKARTA, Indonesia (CNN) — Police in Indonesia arrested five suspected militants Tuesday who they said were planning to attack a major fuel depot in Jakarta.
Brigadier General of Police Sulistyo Ishak said a raid on a house in north Jakarta also yielded a stash of explosives and weapons. Investigators found 21 bullets, 6.6 lbs. (3 kgs) of explosives, PVC pipes and bomb-making manuals, he said.
The suspected militants are believed to have ties to the al Qaeda-linked terror network, Jemaah Islamiyah, which aims to create a Muslim “superstate” across much of southeast Asia.
Authorities blame Jemaah Islamiyah for the Bali nightclub bombings of 2002, which killed more than 200 mostly Western tourists.
Investigators also suspect the group in subsequent attacks on the Australian Embassy and J.W. Marriott hotel, both in the Indonesian capital, Jakarta.
The house that police raided was rented under the name of one of the suspects, Wahyu Ramadhan. Authorities accuse him of being involved in violence in Poso, on Indonesia’s eastern Sulawesi island.
Fighting between Christians and Muslims in the region killed more than 1,000 people in the late 1990s. Clashes still break out periodically and sometimes turn deadly.
Police have accused Jemaah Islamiyah of sending armed militants to Poso.