Asia Briefs: Militant jailed for 11 years over Jakarta bomb plot

Militant jailed for 11 years over Jakarta bomb plot

JAKARTA • An Indonesian militant was jailed for 11 years yesterday for orchestrating a plot, inspired by the Islamic State in Iraq and Syria (ISIS) terror group, to stage a suicide bomb attack on the presidential palace in Jakarta.

Muhammad Nur Solikin, 27, and his wife Dian Yuli Novi were among five terrorists detained last December over plans to attack the palace with a 3kg bomb encased in a pressure cooker during a presidential guard-changing ceremony.

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE

Philippine soldiers kill 9 Maoist rebels in gunfight

MANILA • Philippine soldiers killed nine Maoist rebels in one of the fiercest clashes since peace talks to end nearly five decades of conflict broke down in May, an army spokesman said yesterday.

An army corporal was slightly wounded in the firefight in Nueva Ecija province, some 220km north of Manila, Lieutenant-Colonel Isagani Nato said. He said the soldiers rushed to a village after receiving a report of armed men in the area and were confronted by about 15 guerillas.

REUTERS

Malaysia sentences 11 Indonesian pirates to jail

KUALA TERENGGANU • Eleven Indonesians were sentenced to 16 years' jail each, with six of them to be given five strokes of the cane, by the Sessions Court in Terengganu yesterday after they pleaded guilty to hijacking an oil tanker.

They were charged with committing gang robbery on the Thai-based vessel in the waters off Terengganu earlier this month, while armed with knives, swords and machetes. Three attackers are still at large.

BERNAMA

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A version of this article appeared in the print edition of The Straits Times on September 21, 2017, with the headline Asia Briefs: Militant jailed for 11 years over Jakarta bomb plot. Subscribe