Police: Indonesia bomb maker wanted to join Philippine fight
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Indonesian police said Monday that a man whose home-made bomb accidentally exploded in the West Java city of Bandung was obsessed with the idea of joining Islamic State group-affiliated militants who've occupied parts of a city in the southern Philippines since mid-May.
West Java police spokesman Yusri Yunus said that Agus Wiguna, 21, was arrested following the explosion on Saturday at his rented house and was probably acting alone.
Yunus said a written document found in the house showed Agus' pledge of allegiance to IS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi. He said that Wiguna learned about IS and how to assemble a bomb from the internet.
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The pressure cooker bomb allegedly prepared by Wiguna exploded unintentionally but caused no casualties. It was the second terror-related incident in Bandung since February, when police shot a suspected militant after his bomb exploded in a vacant lot and he fled into a municipal building and set it alight.
Police said Wiguna planned to begin his attack on July 16 at a cafe, then a restaurant and a church, all in Bandung.
He also admitted to wanting to join IS militants fighting in the Philippine city of Marawi after carrying out his planned attacks.
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"That is his confession, but we still need a deeper investigation," Yunus said.
Indonesian police have arrested more than 40 suspected militants following a twin suicide bombing on May 24 in Jakarta that killed three officers and injured 11 other people, including five civilians, in the deadliest militant attack in the capital in a year.
The Jakarta attack was blamed on members of Jemaah Anshorut Daulah, a network of Indonesian extremist groups that has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State group.
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Southeast Asian neighbors Indonesia, Malaysia and the Philippines have agreed to intensify their fight against violent Islamic militants. Analysts say the southern Philippines is at risk of becoming a new IS base as territory it controls in Syria and Iraq is captured by an international coalition seeking to defeat the group.