Bayu Marhaenjati – Indonesian terrorists have shifted their targets to attack police stations over churches, an analyst says.

Terrorism expert Al Chaidar said the focus had changed because terrorist groups considered police as the main enemy. "At the present, attacks on Christmas have been decreasing," terrorism expert Al Chaidar told Beritasatu.com. "There's a possibility that it won't happen again because they are now targeting police or police stations."

Roki Aprisdianto, a terrorist who was recently rearrested after escaping from a Jakarta detention center disguised in a burqa, tried to blow up a police station in Pasar Kliwon in November. Police were able to prevent the bomb from exploding after a food seller in the market found the gas-cylinder bomb and reported it.

In October, two police officers and a security guard of a bank were seriously injured after a bomb exploded at a police post in Poso, Central Sulawesi. This attack occurred after two Poso police officers were killed by terrorists.

Chaidar explained the number of attacks on churches had dropped significantly because most of the terrorist networks who targeted churches in the past had been arrested.

He added that the last church attack was a suicide bombing at a Bethel church GBIS Kepunton in Solo, Central Java in 2011. "The network of Abu Hanifah [behind the attack] has also been arrested," Chaidar said.

National Police said that they would beef up security in seven areas believed to be prime targets for terrorist attacks ahead of the Christmas and New Year celebrations. The areas are East Java, Central Java, Jakarta, North Sumatra, Central Sulawesi, Bali and Maluku. Police justified the selection on past experience, current trends and areas that had been targeted in the past.

But Chaidar said that if police wanted to step up security, it should not only keep an eye to those prime targets. "Combing should be done in all regions," Chaidar said. "It should not be done in some areas that had been targeted. They [terrorists] would find the weak targets, in terms of security and possibility."