INDON COPS CLAIM KILLING 2 MILITANTS LINKED TO SULU CHURCH BOMBING

A counter-terrorism unit raiding a militant hideout in central Indonesia on Wednesday, January 6, 2021, killed two men suspected by police of involvement in twin bombings at a Philippine church in 2019 that killed more than 20 people, Agustinus Beo Da Costa reported for Reuters.

Police said in a statement the raid in Makassar in South Sulawesi by the Densus 88 unit led to a fatal shootout with two suspected militants who resisted arrest.

Makassar police chief Witnu Urip Laksana told Reuters separately that the suspects were involved in the bombings of a church on Jolo island in a restive, predominantly Muslim region of the Catholic-majority Philippines.

Police carried out "firm and calculated" action against the two suspects, Witnu said, adding an investigation was ongoing.

Police suspect the men were members of the Islamic State-inspired Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD), which has carried out a series of attacks in Indonesia.

Philippine authorities have concluded that the January 2019 church attack was a suicide bombing by an Indonesian couple, with the help of a faction of local group Abu Sayyaf, which has pledged allegiance to Islamic State.

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