Five suspected terrorists killed in Bali raids

JAKARTA - Five suspected terrorists were reportedly killed during police raids at two different locations in Bali late on Sunday, the jakartapost.com reported here on Monday.

Police have yet to issue an official statement on the nature of the raids and details on the casualties.

Indonesia's anti-terror police stand guard at the site of a shooting in Sanur on the Indonesian island of Bali March 18, 2012. Indonesian police shot dead five suspected militants in Bali overnight who had identified and surveyed targets they were planning to attack, the national counter terrorism agency said on Monday, and were linked to the banned Jemaah Islamiah group. [Photo/Agencies]

Indonesia's anti-terror police guard the site of a shooting in Sanur on the Indonesian island of Bali March 18, 2012. Indonesian counter-terrorism police have shot dead five men suspected of planning a series of attacks on the resort island of Bali, scene of a night-club bombing in 2002 which killed about 200 people, media reported on Monday. [Photo/Agencies]

The first raid took place in a budget hotel of Sanur and Soputan areas.

Neighbors said that they heard a burst of gunfire at around that time.

"Three were killed here (Sanur) and another two in Soputan," said Bali Legislative Council member I Made Arjaya, whose family home lies just 30 meters away from the site of the first raid. Soputan is a street in a densely-populated area in west Denpasar.

A police source at the scene confirmed members of the group were believed to have been raising funds for terrorism via armed robberies.

"The five people are part of the group that masterminded the 2010 CIMB Niaga bank robbery in Medan (North Sumatra province). We have tailed them for months before we make the raids," the field operative, who wished to remain anonymous, said.

Police had confiscated firearms, he said, and some intelligence reports suggested that the group intended to plan robberies in order to generate money for future terrorist activities.

When asked about more detail of the arrest, the police source refused to reveal further information Sunday night, as it could disrupt police investigations.

But Bali Police spokesperson Sr Comm Hariadi later denied that the suspects were terrorists, describing them instead as professional robbers plotting to commit a heist.