Ronna Nirmala – The National Police announced on Friday that they had arrested 11 suspected terrorists and seized several firearms during a three-day operation across Java Island earlier this week.

Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Anton Bachrul Alam said that the arrests began on Monday, when officers from Densus 88, its counterterrorism unit, arrested five people in Jakarta, Bogor and Surabaya.

"The first arrest was of two suspects, Ahmad Ismi and Iwan Kurniawan, in Surabaya's Tanjung Perak subdistrict," he said. "From those suspects, we seized an assault rifle and five handguns, as well as 158 rounds of ammunition." Anton said that later in the day, police in Bogor arrested Ikhwan Zulfikar, who was allegedly found in possession of a sniper rifle, handgun and 50 rounds of ammunition.

Also on Monday, police arrested Wandoyo Fajrudin Yunus and Asmudi in separate raids in North Jakarta.

On Tuesday, four suspects were arrested in Jakarta – Mahmud Irsad in North Jakarta, Taufik Hidayat in South Jakarta and Ali Akbar and Mansur Samir in West Jakarta – with officers seizing two assault rifles and 13 rounds of ammunition.

"While on Wednesday, Densus 88 arrested two suspects in West Jakarta, identified as Priyatmo and Suparmin," Anton added.

He said the suspects were all believed to be affiliated with existing terrorist cells but did not appear to be linked to one another. "Some of them have allegedly operated in the southern Philippines, in East Kalimantan, in Surabaya and in other locales," he said. "We're still looking into their possible roles in a new group."

Anton said the weapons, believed to have been smuggled in from the Philippines via Malaysia, might have been destined for use in attacks against the police.

Over the past few months, dozens of detained suspects have been linked to a new terrorist cell thought to be behind a series of recent incidents, including the sending of book bombs to Muslim moderates and counterterrorism officials.

The cell has also been linked to a suicide bombing at a mosque at a police compound in Cirebon, West Java, in April. Police also foiled a bid to set off a bomb near a church on the outskirts of Jakarta at Easter.