Indonesian police arrest militants setting up jihadi camp

Indonesian police arrest militants setting up jihadi camp

Indonesian anti-terror police from Detachment 88 carry a bag containing a suspected firearm and other evidence from a building during a raid in Batam, Riau Islands, Indonesia, on Aug 5, 2016 in this photo taken by Antara Foto. (Antara Foto/M N Kanwa/via Reuters)
Indonesian anti-terror police from Detachment 88 carry a bag containing a suspected firearm and other evidence from a building during a raid in Batam, Riau Islands, Indonesia, on Aug 5, 2016 in this photo taken by Antara Foto. (Antara Foto/M N Kanwa/via Reuters)

JAKARTA - Indonesia's counterterrorism squad says it has arrested four suspected Islamic militants who were trying to establish a jihadist training camp in eastern Indonesia and who likely had links with Abu Sayyaf militants in the southern Philippines.

National Police spokesman Boy Rafli Amar said the men were arrested in several locations on the island of Java on Thursday and were connected to four militants ambushed by police on the same day near Jakarta.

Mr Amar said all eight were members of Jemaah Anshorut Daulah, a network of Indonesian extremist groups that formed in 2015 and pledges allegiance to Islamic State group leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi.

One of the suspects told police his role was to purchase rifles from militants in the Philippines and he had travelled there several times.

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