Jakarta – The Harakah Sunni for Indonesia (Hasmi) group has denied a statement made by the National Police saying that 11 of the suspected terrorists arrested on Saturday were members of its organization.

Hasmi announced on its website www.hasmi.org on Sunday that its members only took part in educational and religious activities.

"Hasmi is an Islamic organization that has been legally listed with the Home Ministry's mass organization division," said Hasmi chairman Muhammad Sarbini. "Our activities are only in religious and educational matters. We never promote or teach violence to our members."

Sarbini said that the National Police might have mistakenly said that the 11 suspected terrorists were parts of the organization. "Those suspected terrorists came from another organization that has a similar name to ours," said Sarbini, adding that none of the 11 men was known as Hasmi members.

According to a member of the organization's central executive board, Saifuddin, Hasmi will visit the National Police's headquarters in Jakarta on Monday to ask for clarification. "Our visit is not a form of protest. We just want to seek information as to why our name is being involved," he told The Jakarta Post Digital on Sunday.

Saifuddin said that the accusation of links with terrorism had tarnished Hasmi's reputation. "We have a female boarding school bearing Hasmi's name. Can you imagine how the parents [of the students] reacted once they heard that the organization was linked to terrorism?" he said.

On Saturday, the National Police announced that their counterterrorism unit Densus 88 had arrested 11 suspects in several raids in four provinces in Java on Friday night and Saturday.

Officers from the National Police's Densus 88 counterterrorism unit conducted the raids in Jakarta; Bogor, West Java; Madiun, East Java and Surakarta (Solo), Central Java.

National Police spokesman Insp. Gen. Suhardi Alius said that Hasmi leader Abu Hanifah was among the suspects detained. Abu Hanifah and two others identified as Harun and Budianto were arrested in Mojosongo, Surakarta, at around 11 a.m. on Saturday.

According to the police, the suspected terrorists were allegedly targeting the American embassy offices in Jakarta and Surabaya in East Java; Plaza 89, located in front of the Australian embassy and US mining giant Freeport's headquarters in Jakarta; and the Srondol Mobile Brigade headquarters in Semarang, Central Java. (han/lfr)