The National Police’s elite anti-terrorism unit detained nine suspected terrorists – seven of them former Syrian fighters – in a series of raids in East and Central Java on Tuesday, a spokesman said according to jakartaglobe.id.

Police believe the suspected terrorists are more professional compared with the members of Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD) recently arrested in Bekasi (West Java), Lampung and Tegal (Central Java).

“It is important to note that of these nine suspected terrorists, seven returned from Syria. This means they are more experienced, capable and militant than those arrested earlier,” National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Dedi Prasetyo said on Wednesday.

He added that those arrested on Tuesday are part of an international network, while JAD only operates locally.

Eight of the suspects were captured in various parts of Central Java and one in East Java.

The police spokesman gave the following details of the nine suspects, only identifying them by their initials:

A.H., alias Memet (26), was arrested in Grobogan, Central Java. He went to Syria in 2015 to join Islamic State.
A., alias David (24), was captured in Kartosuro in Sukoharjo district, Central Java. He also went to Syria.
I.H., alias Iskandar (27), arrested in Gemolong in Sragen district, Central Java, received combat training with replica weapons before traveling to Syria in October 2014. He returned to Indonesia in August 2017.
A.M., alias Farel (26), was also arrested in Gemolong. He tried to go to Syria twice, but was captured and deported by Turkish authorities on both occasions.
A.U., alias Al (25), was captured in Kudus, Central Java. He joined IS in Syria and worked in the organization’s logistics section. He was also tasked with conducting surveillance.
J.M., alias Jundi, alias Dian (26), was arrested in Sowan Kidul in Jepara district, Central Java. He is not a Syria returnee.
A.S., alias Tatang, was captured in Semarang, Central Java. He was involved in JAD before traveling to Syria in 2013 for military training.
P.T., alias Dharma (45), was arrested with Tatang.
J.D., arrested in East Java, was previously the coordinator of JAD on Java Island. He also coordinated combat training in Central Java.

The Police Media Spokesperson SP Ruwan Gunasekara said 85 Islamist terrorists have been arrested in connection to the Easter Sunday suicide bomb attacks on churches and hotels.

The terrorists include 10 women, he said at a media briefing, according to news.lk.

Out of the 85, 64 are detained in the custody of the Criminal Investigations Department (CID) and investigations are being carried out.

The Police Media Spokesperson said 20 suspects are being held under detention by the Terrorists Investigation Division and investigated.

He said 17 safe houses used by the terrorists for lodging and 7 training camps were also discovered by the police.

One of the most dangerous commanders of Taliban Mullah Khadem was killed during the joint operations which were conducted in northern Balkh province, the Ministry of Interior announced late on Wednesday, like reported by khaama.com.

A spokesman for the Ministry of Interior Nasrat Rahimi said Mullah Khadem, one of the most dangerous commanders of Taliban was killed during the joint operations which were conducted in Mugholha and Boka villages.

Rahimi further added that another key member of the group identified as Sarwar son of Juma Khan was arrested during the same operations.

The anti-government armed militants including Taliban have not commented regarding the killing of Mullah Khadem so far.

Balkh is among the relatively calm provinces in North of Afghanistan but the security situation in some parts of the province has deteriorated during the recent months.

Taliban militants are active in some of the remote districts of the province where often attempt to carry out terrorist related activities against the government and security institutions.

At least 33 Pakistani nationals who were fighting in the ranks of Taliban were killed in South-eastern Ghazni province of Afghanistan, like reported by khaama.com.

The provincial government and police headquarters issued separate statements confirming that 42 militants including 33 Pakistanis were killed in latest operations which were conducted in Andar district.

The statements further added that the operations were conducted late on Monday night by Afghan and U.S. forces.

The anti-government armed militants including Taliban have not commented regarding the operations so far.

The Ministry of Defense had earlier reported that 11 militants including 4 Pakistani nationals were killed in an operation of the Afghan Special Forces in South-eastern Ghazni province.

“11 Taliban terrorists and 4 Pakistani nationals were killed in Ghazni province in an operation by Afghan commandos. The operation was conducted in Gosfandi village in Ghazni city,” MoD said in a statement on Sunday.

The statement further added “Afghan Commandos have seized documents, weapons and vehicles.”

Two Rohingya were among apprehended in a foiled Islamic State (IS) plot in Malaysia to attack worship sites and assassinate “high-profile personalities” during Ramadan, police said, in the first terror-related arrests there involving members of the Myanmar ethnic minority, like reported by rfa.org.

Officials said the Rohingya and two other suspects were arrested in raids in Kuala Lumpur and Terengganu between May 5 and 7, and planned to bomb Hindu temples, Buddhist temples, churches and entertainment spots during the first week of the Islamic month of fasting, which began May 6.

“This is the first time we arrest Rohingyas. Prior to this, there was no case involving them,” a police source close to the investigation told BenarNews, an RFA-affiliated online news service.

The order to execute the plot was given by a Malaysian militant operating in Syria, but his identity was not known, Abdul Hamid Bador, Malaysia’s new chief of police, told a news conference in Kuala Lumpur.

“A Malaysian had instructed the cell members to launch the attack. They have been planning it since January. We are still trying to identify the person. They communicate via WhatsApp,” he told reporters.

One of the Rohingya suspects in custody was a 20-year-old who held a U.N. refugee card and had admitted to showing support for the Arakan Rohingya Salvation Army (ARSA), an insurgent group operating in Myanmar’s Rakhine state, home to the stateless Rohingya community, the police chief said.

“He was also planning to launch an attack at the Myanmar Embassy in Kuala Lumpur,” Abdul Hamid said, adding that the second Rohingya suspect was a 25-year-old laborer who had admitted to being part of a local IS cell.

The four in custody were led by a Malaysian and included an Indonesian national, the police chief said. They were plotting to carry out assassinations and terrorist acts to avenge the death of a Malay Muslim firefighter, who died in November 2018 after allegedly being attacked during rioting at a minority Hindu temple in Selangor state, Abdul Hamid said.

“The four suspects arrested admitted to being part of the IS cell and ready to launch attacks in Malaysia during the first week of the Ramadan to avenge the death of Mohd Adib, who succumbed … following the injuries sustained during the violence at the Sri Mariaman Seafield in Petaling Jaya,” the police inspector-general said.

All four suspects were being held under Malaysia’s Security Offences (Special Measures) Act, police said.

Police were also hunting for three more members of the cell who went into hiding after last week’s arrests, Abdul Hamid said.

Officers seized an automatic pistol, 15 bullets and six improvised explosive devices (IED) during operations that led to the suspects’ arrests.

“These four men had planned to kill personalities in the country. They are highly placed individuals whose identities cannot be revealed because it is sensitive,” the anonymous police source told BenarNews.

“He was also planning to launch an attack at the Myanmar Embassy in Kuala Lumpur,” Abdul Hamid said.

Regional haven

Malaysia, a predominantly Muslim country, has been seen a safe haven in Southeast Asia for Rohingya fleeing from persecution in Buddhist majority Myanmar and violence in Rakhine state. There are at least 90,200 Rohingya living in Malaysia, according to UNHCR, the U.N.’s refugee agency.

Last year, Malaysian Defense Minister Mohamad Sabu expressed worry about the possibility of Rohingya expatriates turning to extremism.

“We are concerned that the Rohingyas could be manipulated to become suicide bombers or recruited into terrorist cells in this region,” he told a Kuala Lumpur meeting of counterterrorist security professionals in August.

The alleged involvement of the Rohingya and Indonesian in the terror plot showed that IS was capable of using foreigners to exploit local issues in advancing its ideology, said Ahmad El Muhammady, a Malaysian counterterrorism expert.

“The regional environment today is ripe for such [an] attack. We have seen similar events taking place in Sri Lanka and New Zealand,” Ahmad told BenarNews, referring to deadly mass shootings at two mosques in Christchurch and massive coordinate suicide bombings that targeted churches and hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday.

To date in 2019, about 30 people have been arrested for alleged terror activities in Malaysia. Of the number, 10 have been charged while nine were subsequently released, six were deported and one was referred to a foreign agency. The last four remain in custody.

The group calling itself the Islamic State has announced the establishment of a new overseas province in India’s Jammu and Kashmir state, like reported by intelnews.org.

The announcement was made over the weekend by Amaq, which serves as the news agency of the Islamic State. According to the news release, the Islamic State (known also as the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria) has named the new province “wilayah al-Hind” (province of Hind), and said it is based in the Muslim-majority Kashmir Valley, which is located in one of the three administrative divisions of the Indian administered state of Jammu and Kashmir.

The Amaq report surfaced following an armed clash between a group of Islamist militants and Indian security forces in Amshipora, a village in the district of Shopian, which is in the foothills of the northern Himalayan Mountains. At least one Islamist militant was killed in the armed confrontation, which reportedly lasted two hours. Indian authorities identified the dead militant as Ishfaq Ahmad Sofi, and said he had pledged allegiance to the Islamic State. The Amaq statement alleged that the militants in Amshipora had “inflicted casualties” on the security forces, but the claim was denied by the Indian government. The Reuters news agency spoke with Rita Katz, an Israeli analyst who directs the SITE Intelligence Group in the United States. She said that the announcement of a new Islamic State province “should not be written off”, but added that “the establishment of a province in a region where [the Islamic State] has nothing resembling actual governance is absurd”.

Writing in the Hong-Kong-based Asia Times, Prakash Katoch, a retired lieutenant general in the Indian Army’s Special Forces, said that the announcement of a wilayah in India was a first for the Islamic State. He warned that after announcing a province in Indian Kashmir, the Islamic State “may also attempt to increase its presence in other Indian states” with a significant Muslim presence, such as Kerala or West Bengal. Katoch noted that “a number of young men and women from Kerala” had been identified as having joined the Islamic State in 2016 and 2017. Several of them even traveled to Syria to fight for the Sunni Islamist group, he added.

The Afghan Special Forces destroyed several Improvised Explosive Devices, a Russian rocket, and some other IED equipment and military kits during a raid in southern Helmand province, like reported by khaama.com.

“Afghan Special Forces conducted an operation in Garm Ser district of Helmand and destroyed an IED cache that included 4 anti-vehicle IEDs, 7 pressure plates, a Russian rocket, 10 tactical vests, ammunition and other IED-making components,” the informed military sources said Monday.

The anti-government armed militants including Taliban have not commented regarding the raid so far.

Helmand is among the relatively volatile provinces in South of Afghanistan. Taliban militants are active in some of the restive districts of the province where they often attempt to carry out terrorist related activities against the government and security institutions.

Police anti-terror unit Densus 88 has arrested the leader of Islamic State-affiliated organization Jamaah Ansharut Daulah, or JAD, in Bekasi, West Java, on Wednesday. The terror suspect, named by police as E.Y. a.k.a. Rafli or Eky, is reportedly a bomb maker and financier for the organization, a police spokesman said on Thursday, like reported by jakartaglobe.id.

Wednesday’s arrest was linked to last weekend’s raids in Bekasi and Tegal, Central Java, during which Densus 88 captured six suspected terrorists including Solihin, who founded JAD cells in Bekasi and Poso, Central Sulawesi, after the 2016 Thamrin bombing in Jakarta.

Densus 88 arrested Rafli in Kalimalang, East Jakarta, and 18-yer-old Y.N., a.k.a. Kautsar, in Bekasi on Wednesday, National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Dedi Prasetyo said.

In the last week, Densus 88 has arrested eight terror suspects. Another one killed himself when he detonated a home-made bomb while police tried to capture him.

“Rafli is the amir [leader] of JAD’s Bekasi cell. His predecessor was arrested a few years ago after the Thamrin bombing. He is also the financier for S.L. [Solihin]. He provided the money for Solihin and his group to buy explosives,” Dedi said.

Densus 88 raided Rafli’s cellphone and computer accessories shop Wanky Cell in North Bekasi on Wednesday. At least two small home-made bombs containing the highly explosive ingredient triaceton triperoxide, also known as the “Mother of Satan,” were found at the shop.

“We found two high-explosive pipe bombs. They were small but as powerful as the bombs used in Sibolga,” Dedi said,

Dedi was referring to an incident in Sibolga, North Sumatra, in March when a female JAD member blew herself up and her two children during a police raid.

Rafli’s Background

Rafli is a bombmaking expert who taught Solihin and two other terror suspects, S and T, how to assemble a bomb. Solihin and S were arrested last weekend in Bekasi and T was the terrorist who blew himself up trying to evade capture.

Rafli also recruited new members for the terrorist cell. Kautsar, who just graduated from high school last year, was recruited by him. According to Dedi, Kautsar was a champion karate athlete at national level at least twice. He was brainwashed by Rafli to join JAD.

“[Rafli] streamed his bai’at [taking the oath ceremony] as the amir of JAD Bekasi on social media. He is very powerful among JAD members in Bekasi because he has money and he can recruit new members,” Dedi said.

The police spokesman did not say which social media platform Rafli used to stream the bai’at ceremony.

Rafli also taught Kautsar how to make a bomb. Police found a bombmaking manual and a guide on how to use a remote control to detonate a bomb on Kautsar’s laptop, Dedi said.

According to the police, Rafli’s terror cell was waiting for chaos to reign in Jakarta after the result of the presidential election is announced before they launch an attack. The General Elections Commission (KPU) is expected to announce its official vote tally on May 22.

A group of 26 Afghan pilots and door gunners completed their training for UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters in southern Kandahar province, like reported by khaama.com.

The Afghan Air Force announced Thursday that 11 pilots and 15 door gunners have completed training for UH-60 Black Hawk helicopters in Air Brigade’s Training Center in Kandahar.

According to Air Force officials, the pilots and door gunners graduated from the fifth phase of the training for Black Hawk helicopters and received their graduation certificates during a ceremony which was attended by Air Force Commander Gen. Abdul Fahim Ramin, Kandahar Air Brigade Commander Gen. Abdul Raziq Shirzai, foreign partners, trainers, and officers.

This comes as efforts are underway to bolster the capabilities of the Afghan Air Force.

The coalition forces officials in Afghanistan had earlier said that the size of the Afghan Air Force will be tripled by 2023 with the addition of new equipment and aircraft.

At least 15 Taliban militants were killed and 8 others were wounded during the clashes with the Afghan armed forces in western Herat province of Afghanistan, the military sources said Thursday according to khaama.com.

The sources further added that the clashes took place in Farsi district of the province.

“In Farsi district, multiple clashes occurred between Afghan and Taliban forces. ANDSF actions resulted in 15 Taliban fighters killed and 8 wounded,” the sources said.

The anti-government armed militants including Taliban have not commented regarding the clashes so far.

Herat is among the relatively calm provinces in West of Afghanistan but the Taliban militants have recently increased their insurgency activities in some of its remote districts where they often attempt to carry out terrorist related activities against the government and security institutions.