Counter-terrorism police in Indonesia shot dead three suspected militants and seized 14 home-made explosives Friday, officials said, in the latest of a series of deadly raids by the elite unit. The police squad conducted several raids in the capital Jakarta and on its outskirts early Friday after the suspected militants robbed a jewellery store last weekend, national police spokesman Boy Rafli Amar said.
"Three were shot dead and four more were arrested today," he said, adding the suspects were shot after resisting arrest in three separate raids. The police squad also confiscated 14 home-made bombs, five home-made firearms, 34 munitions and one kilogram (2.2 pounds) of gold, Amar said. National detective police chief Sutarman told national television that those involved in Sunday's robbery were part of a terrorist network that police were "hunting down", but gave no further details.
"We managed to cut their funding from abroad... that's the reason they carried out the robbery," he said, adding one of the suspects killed was involved in a 2010 bank robbery on Sumatra island in which gunmen escaped with around 40,000 dollars. Police have linked several robberies in recent years to the funding of militancy in Indonesia. The anti-terror police unit, Detachment 88, has come under scrutiny recently, with allegations the unit employs a shoot-to-kill policy in raids, and tortures terror suspects.