Jakarta (AFP) - Muslim-majority Indonesia will deploy nearly 200,000 security personnel nationwide ahead of Christmas to guard against potential terror attacks, police said Tuesday.
The
Southeast Asian archipelago of 260 million has significant numbers of
Christians, Hindus and Buddhists who have been targeted by radical Islamist
groups.
On Tuesday,
authorities said some 192,000 police and military personnel would be deployed
to secure Christmas and New Year's Eve celebrations across the country --
including in easternmost Papua, a predominantly Christian region.
The
deployment, which comes after a recent spate of attacks, is more than the
167,000 personnel deployed last year.
"As
many as 10,000 personnel will be deployed in Jakarta" alone, said National
Police spokesman Argo Yuwono
"Based
on intelligence data, there are potential risks... so we're taking preventive
measures but we are also ready to take proactive action," he added.
Many past
attacks in Indonesia, which has dozens of groups loyal to Islamic State's
violent ideology, have been against police and other state symbols.
Authorities
routinely arrest suspected IS-linked militants ahead of alleged planned
attacks.
In October
Indonesian President Joko Widodo ordered beefed-up security after two militants
from an IS-linked terror group stabbed his chief security minister. He survived
the assassination attempt.
Last month
a suicide bomber blew himself up at a police station in Sumatra, killing
himself and wounding six civilians.
Hundreds of
suspects were rounded up after the attacks, which came more than a year after a
suicide bomber family killed a dozen congregants in attacks at churches in
Indonesia's second-biggest city, Surabaya.
On Tuesday
the country's new chief security minister Mahfud said high security was also
meant to ensure Christian communities could celebrate Christmas without being
targeted by groups keen to disrupt the festivities.
"We
need to anticipate as early as possible things like intolerant incidents and
burning down houses of worship," the minister, who goes by one name, told
reporters.
Conservative
Muslim groups frequently raid shopping malls and other public places to protest
against Christmas displays or seasonal attire worn by Muslim employees.
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