INDONESIA: Indonesian police tighten security across archipelago ahead of Christmas and New Year holidays

Indonesian police are mounting massive security operations to secure churches and other public places across the archipelago ahead of the Christmas and New Year celebrations as the United States and Australia issue terror alerts to their citizens in the Southeast Asian nation. Police in capital city Jakarta organized a security drill on Friday (December 22) at a church in the Kebayoran suburb where a mock hostage attempt was staged. Anti-terror police squads armed with guns and wearing protective gear swept through the church to rescue a priest taken "hostage" and wrestle down the "terrorist" responsible for the act. They also "detonated" a suspicious package at the church. Australia on Thursday (December 21) warned of possible militant attacks in Indonesia over the Christmas and New Year period, mirroring a U.S. warning issued earlier in the week. Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, has in recent years been hit by a series of bomb blasts blamed on Islamic militants. Most attacks against Western targets have taken place in the capital Jakarta and on the resort island of Bali. Police also mounted a parade of police officers and special anti-terror squads at the national monument Monas in central Jakarta on Thursday, all of whom were fully armed and wearing bullet-proof gear. The police plan to deploy some 18,000 policemen and 2,000 soldiers across Jakarta and its outskirts, Komang Udayana, a senior police official, told Reuters. "We hope there are no serious security threats. We will continuously observe until after the New Year and hope the situation will be peaceful," Udayana said. More than 190 militants have been convicted in connection with violent attacks and five sentenced to death, the head of the country's counter-terrorism desk said earlier this month. Around 85 percent of Indonesia's 220 million people are Muslim. The vast majority are moderates but there is an active militant minority. Indonesia has been relatively calm in recent months and there has not been a major attack since a second set of suicide attacks in Bali in October, 2005.

ITN Source | November 22, 2006

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