Indonesian security forces will remain on high alert through the year-end holidays after police arrested nine militants suspected of plotting a series of attacks, amid growing fears that the rise of Islamic State may help strengthen homegrown terror groups.
Police Chief Badrodin Haiti said Monday that Indonesian security forces conducted sweeps in several cities Friday and Saturday on heavily populated Java Island with the help of intelligence provided by the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Australian Federal Police and authorities in Singapore.
Counterterrorism police arrested five men in Central and West Java found to have links to Islamic State in Syria, said police spokesman Anton Charliyan.
