Jakarta: Indonesia's police chief has attributed a sharp rise in the number of alleged terrorists handled by his force to the influence of Islamic State and the defeats it is experiencing in the Middle East.
The number of alleged terrorists dealt with by Indonesian police in 2016 was more than double the previous year, as IS encouraged terror cells to carry out attacks beyond Syria.
National police chief Tito Karnavian revealed there had been 170 alleged terrorists processed by police this year, compared to only 82 in 2015.
Of the 170 cases, 40 militants were sentenced, six were returned to their families, 36 are facing trial, 55 are being investigated and 33 were killed.
General Tito said that as IS came under attack from Western forces in Syria this year it encouraged its networks to stage terrorist activities overseas.
"That's why there were attacks in Europe, Turkey and Pakistan as well as Indonesia," General Tito said.
"No wonder the numbers in Indonesia increased because of instructions from [IS] to ... attract world attention."
On January 14, eight people were killed - including four militants - in a terror attack in front of the Sarinah department store in central Jakarta.
It was the first attack in Indonesia and indeed South-east Asia for which IS claimed responsibility, the first major attack in Jakarta since 2009 and the first in which armed gunmen shot at civilians, no doubt inspired by the Paris attack in November 2015.
The 33 alleged terrorists killed by police this year was also a steep increase from the seven killed in 2015.
The 33 dead included the four terrorists in the Sarinah attack and Indonesia's most wanted Islamist militant, Santoso, who was killed in a shootout in the jungles of Poso in Central Sulawesi in July.
Five people suspected of plotting terror attacks over the holiday period have been shot dead by police in the past month alone.
General Tito said police were permitted to kill if officers or members of the community were being threatened. "It has nothing to do with, say this year the numbers have to be higher, or this year less."
Jakarta-based terrorism expert Sidney Jones said the high number of terrorists killed this year could be explained by the ongoing Operation Tinombala in Central Sulawesi.
Fifteen alleged terrorists have been killed in Poso this year alone, as part of an operation aimed at capturing all members of the East Indonesia Mujahideen dead or alive.
Its former leader, Santoso, eluded capture for years and was seen as a symbol of resistance to the government until he was shot dead in July.
Ms Jones said militants were overwhelmingly targeting police but there were also an attack on a Protestant church in Samarinda, which killed a toddler, and an attack on a Catholic church in Medan, allegedly inspired by the killing of a priest by IS militants in Rouen, France.
"We had a couple of plots aimed at avenging violence against Muslims in Myanmar, none of which came off," Ms Jones said.
She said the Sarinah attack on January 14 was initially aimed at police but what the terrorists wanted to do was reproduce the Paris attacks.
"Starbucks (the site of a suicide bombing on January 14) was an attraction but I don't think we have hard evidence there was a specific targeting of foreigners. It was more trying to produce a large scale attack, as if to say: 'You are not safe here either'."
Despite the large number of arrests and foiled terrorist plots, only one police officer was killed and 11 injured in terror activities this year.
with Amilia Rosa
