BTV, Bandung – The National Police's counterterrorism squad Detachment 88 has arrested seven people for alleged role in a suicide bombing at a police station in Bandung two weeks ago, a spokesman said on Wednesday.
The arrests were the latest in police's crackdown on terrorism in recent weeks that saw at least 26 suspects in custody for various allegations.
The seven suspects are accused of becoming an accessory to the attack on Astana Anyar police station in the West Java capital that killed an officer and wounded seven others.
"In total, Detachment 88 has arrested 26 terror suspects, including the seven who were arrested after the [Bandung] attack," National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Ahmad Ramadhan said.
Ahmad said six of the seven suspects knew in advance about the suicide bombing plot in Bandung, but he declined to go into details.
The suicide bomber was identified as Agus Sujatno, who had previously served a jail term for another attack.
According to police, Agus used an improvised explosive device known as a pressure cooker bomb laden with nails to blow himself up after he forced his way to the police station during a roll call.
In recent weeks, anti-terror operations have been conducted in five provinces, leading to the arrests of eight suspects in Central Java, six in West Java, 10 in North Sumatra, and one in West Sumatra and Riau, Ahmad said.