Indonesian police kill two militants during raid on house in Java

Two men had been arrested in Cibinong, in West Java, and led police to a house nearby, at the Jatiluhur dam, where two other men were found, national police spokesman Awi Setiyono said.PHOTO: COURTESY

Indonesian police killed two suspected Islamist militants in a house in West Java on Sunday, a police spokesman said, in the latest in a series of raids aimed at preventing planned attacks in the Muslim-majority nation.

Two men had been arrested in Cibinong, in West Java, and led police to a house nearby, at the Jatiluhur dam, where two other men were found, national police spokesman Awi Setiyono said.

"They were told to surrender, but they refused and tried to attack officers with machetes, so we fired warning shots. When they still approached, we shot them," Setiyono said. He earlier said that a gunbattle had occurred.

Police seized some weapons and a letter which said the group had planned an attack at an undisclosed location on New Year's Eve (Dec. 31), West Java police spokesman Yusri Yunus told Metro TV.

A police bomb squad was still scanning the area for any explosives, Yunus added.

Earlier this week, Indonesian anti-terrorism police killed three suspects in a gunbattle on the outskirts of the capital Jakarta, and said they had foiled a suicide bombing planned for the end of the year.

Police have arrested dozens of suspected militants in recent months, including a cell on Batam island that planned a rocket attack on neighbouring Singapore.

Indonesia has foiled at least 14 attacks this year alone and made more than 150 arrests.

A gun and bomb assault in the heart of Jakarta in January 2016 killed four people and was the first attack in Southeast Asia claimed by Islamic State jihadists.

Indonesia will deploy 85,000 police and 15,000 military personnel for the Christmas and New Year period, police said. (Reporting by Gayatri Suroyo; Writing by Ed Davies; Editing by Mark Heinrich and Hugh Lawson)