JAKARTA (Reuters) – Indonesia’s counter-terrorism police plan to arrest more than 100 suspected militants in a bid to prevent retaliatory attacks after a radical cleric linked to Islamic State was sentenced to death, the country’s police chief said on Thursday.

 

Indonesian police chief Tito Karnavian gestures during an interview with Reuters in Jakarta, Indonesia, June 28, 2018. REUTERS/Beawiharta

Aman Abdurrahman, regarded as the ideological leader of Jemaah Ansharut Daulah, a loose grouping of hundreds of Islamic State sympathizers, was convicted last month for masterminding four deadly attacks in Jakarta and elsewhere in Indonesia.

He has been in prison since 2009, but was accused of orchestrating the attacks from behind bars. No date has been set for Abdurrahman’s execution, which is likely to be by firing squad, but in the meantime Indonesian security forces have been put on high alert.

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