Indonesian militants captured in recent police raids were planning a series of attacks including a Mumbai-style hotel siege targeting foreigners and an assault on the President at an independence day ceremony, the police said on Friday.
The men also planned to target US President Barack Obama, who is scheduled to visit the country later this year, and plotted the attacks to instal Sharia law in the world’s most populous Muslim nation, officials said. The police have arrested and killed several suspected jihadists during a series of raids across Indonesia since February when they discovered a militant training camp in the Sumatran province of Aceh.
National police chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri told reporters that an Aceh-based militant group had planned to attack President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, government officials, and state guests attending an independence day event in August, and would then declare Indonesia an Islamic state ruled by Sharia Law.
“They planned to attack and murder state officials at the August 17 celebrations. There, they saw all of the state officials as assassination targets, including the state guests attending the ceremony,” Mr Danuri said. —Reuters