Indonesia arrests 22 militants following attack on Minister

According to police reports, 22 suspected militants have been recently arrested for the charges of plotting bombings and other attacks in a counterterrorism crackdown soon after last week's assault by a knife-wielding militant couple tried to hurt Indonesia's top security minister.  

Police still on the hunt for other suspected militants

Dedi Prasetyo, the National police spokesman stated in a news conference that the police's elite anti-terror squad, known as Densus 88, captured 10 homemade pipe bombs popularly known to be intended for suicide attacks, chemicals for use in explosives, airsoft guns, knives, documents on planned attacks, jihadist books, laptops and cellphones in separate raids. 

However, the police are still on the hunt for other suspected militants, who mostly are participants in a social media chat group. The suspects are believed to have pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group and are members of a local ISIS affiliate known as the Jama'ah Anshorut Daulah, or JAD.

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A rare militant attack

Prasetyo recently said that members of the JAD are free to conduct 'amaliah' independently, depending on the ability of those who want to carry out the attacks, also referring to the famous Arabic word known as violent jihadist action against those perceived as enemies of Islam. 

Read: Indonesia Security Minister Wiranto Stabbed By Suspected 'IS Radical'

Chief Security Minister Wiranto, a local police chief and a third man were deeply injured in the broad daylight attack on Thursday by the terrorist couple in the western province of Banten. Wiranto, who goes by one name, is recovering in an army hospital in Jakarta and police were interrogating the couple, who were believed to be members of a JAD bloc in Banten. 

Among the 22 suspects arrested in the series of police raids were a man and his 14-year-old son on the Indonesian resort island of Bali who reportedly plotted the plan to make a bomb for an attack against the local police. They were arrested just few hours after Thursday's attack against Wiranto in a rare militant attack on a top government official in Indonesia. 

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(With inputs from PTI)