Indonesian police have shot dead six suspected terrorists and arrested another in a New Year's Eve raid near the capital that broke out into an hours-long gun battle, police say.
A police squad led by counter-terrorism unit Detachment 88 on Tuesday evening surrounded a house in South Tangerang city, on the outskirts of Jakarta, where there was a gathering of suspected militants, National Police spokesman Ronny Sompie said on Wednesday.
"We told them to surrender but they resisted. They shot at police and we had to open fire," Sompie told AFP, saying the shootout lasted hours and the operation ended early the next morning.
"They are suspected of being involved in several terror activities in 2013, including the shooting of police officers," he said.
Police seized explosive materials and firearms from the house, Sompie said.
Police said the killed men were connected to Abu Roban, a suspected militant who was killed in an anti-terror raid in May 2013 and who had led a religious-study group in Tangerang.
The men targeted in the raid are suspected of orchestrating an attack on a Buddhist temple in August, where a low-intensity bomb went off and lightly injured a person, Sompie said.
About 6500 police were deployed for security on New Year's Eve and New Year's Day in Jakarta and surrounding areas.
Indonesia has been rocked by deadly terror attacks during the past decade, including the 2002 bombings on the island of Bali that killed 202 people, mostly foreigners, including 88 Australians.
Since then the country has waged a crackdown on terrorism, dismantling some of the deadliest networks, and only low-impact attacks have been executed.
Police officers have become the main target for some terror groups.
