Indonesia’s counter-terror police say they have detained six suspected militants on suspicion of planning to launch a rocket attack on Singapore from a nearby island.

The Indonesian men were captured on Friday morning on Indonesia’s Batam island, about 15 miles south-east of Singapore, a police spokesman said.



The spokesman said the arrests highlighted the continued threat posed by extremists in Indonesia, despite a sustained crackdown by authorities.

“We have strong indications that the six men were planning to launch a rocket at Singapore’s Marina Bay from Batam,” he said.

Marina Bay is a busy area filled with vaulting office towers, waterside restaurants and tourist attractions, including one of Asia’s biggest casinos.

The spokesman said the arrested men claimed they were members of Katibah Gigih Rahmat, a little-known extremist group that helps Indonesian militants travel to Syria and which police believe has received funds from Bahrun Naim, an Indonesian fighting with Islamic State in Syria.

Naim has been linked to a succession of poorly executed attacks in Indonesia, including a suicide bombing outside police headquarters in the city of Solo last month that killed the bomber.

Analysts said it was unclear whether the militants had the ability to carry out a rocket attack. Sidney Jones, director of Jakarta thinktank the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict, told AFP it was necessary to wait for further information about the plot before drawing firm conclusions. “I think it highly unlikely that the plan had got very advanced,” she added.

Singapore’s state media reported that local authorities were aware of the alleged plot.

The Ministry of Home Affairs said in a statement that Singapore’s security agencies had coordinated with Indonesia to monitor the activities of the group and apprehend those involved.

Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, has suffered a spate of deadly attacks by members of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) militant network, including the 2002 Bali bombings that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists.

However, in recent years, smaller and less deadly strikes have targeted government agencies, mainly police and anti-terrorism forces. Many JI members say they no longer support violent jihad but some have aligned themselves with Isis.