Jakarta: Indonesian police have killed six suspected militants in a weekend onslaught against a group wanted for a series of armed robberies that authorities say were intended to finance terrorist acts, officials said today.
The clashes happened in North Sumatra's Serdang Bedagai district. On Saturday, police killed four suspected members of the group and arrested two others. Then on Sunday,
one suspect was fatally shot and another killed by a grenade he apparently threw during a gun battle with police, said Maj.
Gen. Oegroseno, chief of North Sumatra police. Another suspect surrendered at a local police station, said Oegroseno, who, like many Indonesians, uses only one name. Police are still searching for at least five other suspects.
The group is believed behind robberies of banks and money changers that have netted more than USD 127,000 since April to buy weapons and finance acts of terror. The group is also accused of attacks on police stations that have killed three officers.
Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, has been hit by a string of terrorist attacks blamed on the regional al-Qaida-linked group Jemaah Islamiyah since 2002
Bali bombings which killed 202, most of them foreign tourists.
Attacks on hotels, embassies and restaurants since then have killed another 60 people.
AP
First Published: Sunday, October 03, 2010, 20:27