Thursday, Sep 06, 2012
JAKARTA - Indonesian authorities launched a manhunt and were investigating possible links to terrorism after finding explosive materials at a house in the suburbs of Jakarta, police said Thursday.
Neighbours called police when they saw a cloud of smoke rising from the home of a man named Muhammad Toriq, who fled, leaving his mother, wife and children behind, Jakarta police spokesman Rikwanto told AFP.
"Late Wednesday afternoon, residents called the police to report the smoke coming from Muhammad Toriq's house. Police arrived and an hour later discovered explosive materials," Rikwanto said.
"We are working with anti-terror agencies and the national police to find him and investigate whether he was linked to any groups planning acts of terror."
Among the materials found were detonators, aluminium powder, sulphur and boxes of nails, Rikwanto said.
The incident came after a shootout last week in Solo in central Java that left two terrorist suspects and an anti-terror officer dead.
Police arrested another suspect Wednesday on the outskirts of Jakarta over an attack on Solo police.
Muslim-majority Indonesia has waged a crackdown on militant groups over the past decade with anti-terror police claiming the scalps of some of the country's most notorious terrorist suspects in bloody raids.
Over the last decade, Indonesia has suffered a series of attacks by Jemaah Islamiyah - blamed for the Bali bombings in 2002 that left 202 dead - but has seen no major incidents since the bombings of two hotels in Jakarta in 2009.
The country has seen a shift to smaller terror cells, however, which attempted two suicide bombings on a church and police mosque in 2011 with explosives made from nails and bolts, killing only the bombers themselves.
JAKARTA - Indonesian authorities launched a manhunt and were investigating possible links to terrorism after finding explosive materials at a house in the suburbs of Jakarta, police said Thursday.
Neighbours called police when they saw a cloud of smoke rising from the home of a man named Muhammad Toriq, who fled, leaving his mother, wife and children behind, Jakarta police spokesman Rikwanto told AFP.
"Late Wednesday afternoon, residents called the police to report the smoke coming from Muhammad Toriq's house. Police arrived and an hour later discovered explosive materials," Rikwanto said.
"We are working with anti-terror agencies and the national police to find him and investigate whether he was linked to any groups planning acts of terror."
Among the materials found were detonators, aluminium powder, sulphur and boxes of nails, Rikwanto said.
The incident came after a shootout last week in Solo in central Java that left two terrorist suspects and an anti-terror officer dead.
Police arrested another suspect Wednesday on the outskirts of Jakarta over an attack on Solo police.
Muslim-majority Indonesia has waged a crackdown on militant groups over the past decade with anti-terror police claiming the scalps of some of the country's most notorious terrorist suspects in bloody raids.
Over the last decade, Indonesia has suffered a series of attacks by Jemaah Islamiyah - blamed for the Bali bombings in 2002 that left 202 dead - but has seen no major incidents since the bombings of two hotels in Jakarta in 2009.
The country has seen a shift to smaller terror cells, however, which attempted two suicide bombings on a church and police mosque in 2011 with explosives made from nails and bolts, killing only the bombers themselves.
