BANDUNG (UCAN): Indonesian police have tightened security around a Parahyangan Catholic University in Bandung in West Java, Indonesia, following an alleged bomb threat from an Islamic militant group.
The move came after the university received a letter containing the threat in the name of Jamaah Ansharut Daulah, a banned hardline outfit pledging allegiance to the transnational terror group, Islamic State.
The letter claimed several bombs were planted in an auditorium on the campus. It also threatened that bombs would be detonated if the graduation ceremony scheduled for November 15-16 went ahead.
“Immediately cancel the event and all activities related to it in the future and do not dare to conduct searches, scans, or worse, contact the police/other security forces,” the letter, addressed to the campus rector, Tri Basuki Joewono, read.
Jules Abraham Abast, spokesperson for the West Java Police, said a police team searched the campus on November 14, but no bomb was found. “We have involved the Explosive Ordnance Disposal team. No bomb was found,” he said.
However, Abast said they secured the campus area by deploying 100 personnel. “We continue to monitor the campus; students and families have been given IDs as a sign when they will enter the campus and will attend the graduation,” he said.
The university said it continues to increase vigilance by coordinating with security forces “to ensure that the campus environment remains safe.”
It said in a statement, “We also appeal to campus residents to support each other and remain calm. “
The campus also experienced a similar bomb threat in 2008, which targeted its rector.
Parahyangan Catholic University, founded in 1955, has nine faculties. Major seminarians from the Order of the Holy Cross and the dioceses of Bogor and Bandung study philosophy there.
Indonesia has struggled with Islamic militancy since extremists bombed popular tourist destination Bali in 2002, killing 202 people.
Jamaah Ansharut Daulah is known for terror activities, including bombings.
In July 2018, the South Jakarta District Court declared the group a “forbidden organisation” after prosecutors indicted them for carrying out several terrorist attacks across the country.
The group was founded in 2014 by Aman Abdurrahman, who was sentenced to death on 22 June 2018, for masterminding several terror attacks across Indonesia.
It was accused of carrying out a series of attacks, including one in January 2016 in Jakarta that killed eight people and an attack in November 2017 against the Batak Society Christian Church of Oikumene in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, that left four people dead.
The group was also accused of being behind a riot at a police detention center on the outskirts of Jakarta on 9 May 2018. The violence killed five guards and a detainee.
On May 13 that year, suicide bombers attacked three churches in Surabaya, East Java, leaving 18 dead.
