Indonesian militants planned attacks on foreigners in Jakarta

Indonesian militants captured in police raids in recent weeks planned to attack foreigners including Americans in Jakarta, police said on Friday.

National police chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri told reporters that targets also included president Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, government officials, and state guests attending an independence day event in August

Earlier on Friday, an expert on militants said that US president Barack Obama, who is due to visit Indonesia in June, was one of several suspected targets of the militants.

Police have arrested and killed several suspected jihadists during a series of raids across Indonesia since February when they discovered a militant training camp in the Sumatran province of Aceh.

Danuri told a press conference on Friday that the Aceh-based militant group had wanted to turn Indonesia into a sharia state.

"They planned to carry out assassinations of US citizens or foreigners in Jakarta or Java," he said.

According to a slide presentation at the conference, the militants had planned to launch an attack on the president, government officials and state guests at the Independence Day ceremony because they understood that security would not be tight and that officers'' weapons would not be loaded with bullets.

Intelligence expert Mardigu Wowi Prasantyo, who is close to the police investigation, said books and documents found in the raids suggested the militants planned an attack on Obama, possibly during his visit to Indonesia.

"They did not say it, but this was evident in their books and documents, that the leader of America was their enemy and should be attacked whenever possible," he told Reuters by phone.

Mardigu said other suspected targets included President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, police officials, ministers, oil depots and electricity infrastructure, dams, and liberal Muslims, in order to destabilise the government. 

"This we know from what they said and also we got from their laptops and documents. As for when, however, we do not know," Mardigu said.

He added that the information was gathered mostly from documents taken during a series of raids in Solo this week, as well as in Jakarta, Medan, and Aceh in recent weeks.

Obama, who spent part of his childhood in Jakarta, was expected to visit Indonesia in March but delayed his trip until mid-June so he could oversee the passage of the US health bill.

Another intelligence expert told Reuters last year that militants planned to use snipers to attack Obama's convoy during his visit.