Andi Akbar (left), a lawyer from a group called the Muslim Legal Team, sits with the wives of suspected militants Mohamad Arkam and Adi Saputra during a news conference in Palu, Indonesia, on Sept. 4. (Photo: Bernama)
Jakarta, September 5 (VNA) –Indonesian authorities on September 4 arrested three people on suspicion ofinvolvement with the Eastern Indonesia Mujahideen (MIT), a militant grouplinked to the self-claimed Islamic State (IS).
The Indonesian national police’s anti-terrorism unit Densus 88 arrestedtwo construction workers, one of them is 21 and the other 25, at their rentedhome in Palu, the capital of Central Sulawesi, said provincial police chiefBrig. Gen. Lukman Wahyu Haryanto.
A day earlier, another35-year-old suspect was also detained and questioned by the unit, he added.
Lukman said all three menwere suspected of having links to the MIT, whosemembers have sworn allegiance to the IS group and has been active in the Posoarea of Sulawesi Island in recent years.
Police seized machetes,knives, cellphones, and an air gun from the suspects’ homes, he noted.
Authorities said MIT’s overall strength had beenreduced to seven fighters, including its leader Ali Kalora, following recentkillings of other members of the militant group.
Earlier in July, Indonesia extended OperationTinombala, a joint military-police task force that has targeted MIT militantson Sulawesi since January 2016, by three months.
Tinombala replaced another jointoperation to pursue the militants on Sulawesi, Camar Maleo, which began in2015. –VNA
VNA
