The National Police’s Densus 88 Counter-terrorism unit engaged in shootouts with six suspected terrorists in the city of Lampung, during which two people were killed.
According to Densus 88, the six were linked with Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), an IS-affiliated regional terror group blamed for the deadly 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people and the suicide bombing at the JW Marriott hotel in Jakarta the following year that killed 13.
The six were known to have sheltered Zulkarnaen, one of the masterminds of the Bali bombings, who evaded police capture for some 18 years before his eventual arrest in Lampung in 2020. Zulkarnaen was sentenced to 15 years in prison in 2022.
The shootouts occurred on two separate occasions between April 11 and 12 as the counter-terrorism unit hunted down members of the network. Two suspected tourists were gunned down, while the other four have been arrested.
One Densus 88 officer was shot in his thigh and is receiving medical treatment.
Densus 88 has yet to reveal specific roles the suspects played within JI, but believe that they were plotting an assault on the police.
