Senior police say 61,000 officers will be deployed throughout Indonesia over Christmas and New Year’s celebrations to try to prevent possible terror attacks.
Commissioner General Ismerda Lebang, says the potential threats could include terror, sabotage, intimidation and kidnapping and abuse of individuals of high importance.
On October 1, three backpack bombers struck the country’s main resort island of Bali, killing around two dozen people.
It was the second strike on the prime tourist destination after nightclub bombings hit the island in 2002, killing 202 people, mostly foreign tourists.
The U.S. and Australian embassies have issued fresh warnings of possible militant attacks against Westerners in Indonesia.
The chief of Indonesia’s National Intelligence Agency (BIN), says foreigners could be kidnap targets in the Christmas and New Year season.
Security analysts say the threat of militant attacks is high in Indonesia, because police are yet to catch one of the alleged masterminds of previous bombings, Malaysian-born Noordin M. Top.
Police last month killed Azahari Husin, another alleged Jemaah Islamiah leader, in a shootout in East Java province.