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Indonesia Raid Kills 7 Terror Suspects


Members of the anti-terror police arrive at the village of Batu Rengat, where police exchanged fire with suspects in a house in Bandung, West Java province, May 8, 2013.
Members of the anti-terror police arrive at the village of Batu Rengat, where police exchanged fire with suspects in a house in Bandung, West Java province, May 8, 2013.
Police in Indonesia have killed seven alleged terrorists and arrested another 13 after stand-offs in central and west Java. Police are investigating possible links between the incidents and an alleged plot to attack Burma's Embassy in Jakarta.

Indonesia's elite anti-terror squad launched a series of raids on suspected Islamic militants in villages across Java, the country's most densely populated island.

An overnight stand-off between police and suspects, at a village hideout in central Java, ended after attempts to get the men to surrender failed. In an exchange of gunfire, police killed three men and arrested several others.

The raid followed a similar stand-off in Western Java on Wednesday, where police killed three other militants. Police said, during the seven-hour stand-off, the suspects fired guns at them and threw pipe bombs.

In a separate incident Wednesday, police shot dead a suspected militant and arrested another in central Java. The men were alleged to have been involved in a jewelry shop robbery, earlier this year, in Jakarta to fund terrorist activities.

Police spokesman Boy Rafi Amar spoke to journalists at a news conference Thursday.

He said terrorists are collecting funds for operations by conducting bank robberies. He said this is an indication that they are preparing terror activities after they have enough funds.

It is not immediately clear if the raids were connected.

But police said they are investigating the incidents for possible links, including with two men arrested last week for allegedly plotting to attack Burma's Embassy.

Police ambushed the men riding a motorcycle and armed with explosives.

They were alleged to have ties to terrorist networks and were said to be planning a revenge attack for Burma's treatment of Muslims.

Burma has been rocked by a series of attacks by Buddhist mobs against Muslim minorities, since violent sectarian unrest last year.

Police spokesman Boy Rafi Amar said no police were injured during the two days of operations.

He said terrorists in Indonesia keep creating new cells and they have found new faces recently.

Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation, has cracked down on terror networks since deadly attacks on Western targets. Bombings in 2002, on the resort island of Bali, killed more than 200 people, most of them foreign tourists.

In recent years, militants have aimed attacks at official targets in the government and security forces.

Militant Islamic cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, linked to the Bali attacks, is serving 15 years in prison for funding terrorism. He has been threatening to wage a holy war on Burma, if it continues to harm Muslims.
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