Farouk Arnaz – The police's elite counterterrorism unit has arrested five people in Aceh and North Sumatra believed to be linked to a spate of politically motivated attacks in the lead-up to elections in Aceh next month.

A source from the unit, known as Densus 88, told the Jakarta Globe on Sunday that police were investigating whether the perpetrators' motives were political or whether they were linked to the regional terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah.

"We're now interrogating these five individuals in Aceh," said the source, speaking on condition of anonymity. "We haven't determined yet whether to name them suspects or not."

While police have not officially confirmed the arrests, Comr. Gen. Sutarman, the National Police's chief of detectives, previously said that Densus 88 was indeed involved in "helping secure" the upcoming polls in Aceh.

"We've sent Densus 88 there to give [residents] a sense of security," he said in January. "We're also increasing the number of joint police-military patrols across the province."

Sutarman said the heightened security presence there, including the deployment of Densus 88, was in response to a series of shootings and firebombings by unknown perpetrators since last October.

"These attacks are being carried out by a certain group to disturb the people," he said. "They want to scare them in order to create an atmosphere of terror and disrupt the elections." The attacks began just weeks before the polls were initially to be held last November.

Nine people have been killed in the incidents since early December. In the latest incident, Lhokseumawe City Council Speaker Saifuddin Yunus was shot and injured in an ambush at his house early on Thursday by unknown gunmen.

The previous week, a car belonging to the campaign team of Governor Irwandi Yusuf was set on fire in East Aceh district. The vehicle only sustained minor damage, and the perpetrators remain at large.

While analysts suggest the violence is aimed at disrupting the elections, some local authorities say the shootings are purely criminal in nature and motivation.

Many local residents say the violence been taking place simply because many people still possess explosives and guns inherited from the time when the GAM was still fighting to break the province away from Indonesia.

The police have not made any arrests or uncovered the motives in any of the attacks, which mirror a series of politically motivated attacks that took place between late 2008 and April 2009.

Those events, prior to the 2009 legislative elections, targeted the offices and homes of politicians from several parties, but mainly those from the Aceh Party, which was founded by former Free Aceh Movement (GAM) guerillas.

The upcoming elections, which are slated for April 9 following a series of delays over political bickering, will see voters across the province turn out to pick a governor, four mayors and 13 district heads.