Indonesia has thwarted a bid by Islamic State-linked militants to stage a series of bombings when it announces official election results this month. The anti-terror squad of the Indonesian police has arrested eight militants belonging to Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS)-affiliated cells who had plotted to stage suicide bombings.
The eight alleged militants were members of the outlawed Jemaah Anshurat Daulah (JAD) group, which has pledged allegiance to ISIS. Some of those arrested were bomb-makers based in the outskirts of Jakarta, Lampung province and North Sulawesi province.
Additionally, written plans and materials for the preparation of the attack were recovered seeing as the terrorists planned to guise themselves as protestors during the press conferences to announce poll results.
Members of the JAD have carried out several terrorist strikes in the country, including the multiple suicide attacks in East Java and Riau provinces in May 2018 and suicide strikes at a police station and Starbucks Cafe in the heart of Jakarta that killed eight people in January 2016
