Suspected Daesh terrorists kill Indonesian police

A file photo of Indonesian police forces (by AFP)

Suspected Daesh terrorists have stabbed an Indonesian police officer at a police post in the North Sumatra Province, amid rising concerns over the growth of militancy in the region.

Police shot dead one of the attackers and the other one was arrested after the attack in the city of Medan, police spokesman Rina Sari Ginting said on Sunday.

The police officer later succumbed to the stabbing wounds.

Ginting said the attackers had scaled fencing at the post near the provincial capital’s police headquarters.

Indonesia has witnessed several attacks linked to Daesh over the past years.

The latest attack occurred last month, when Daesh blew up two explosive devices at a bus station in the capital, Jakarta, killing three police officers.

Police officials have revealed that there are Daesh sleeper cells “in almost every province.” National Police chief Tito Karnavian said days ago that about 40 suspected militants had been detained in the past weeks.

Counter-terrorism police cordon off a road as they search a house in Surabaya, East Java Province, Indonesia, June 19, 2017, following the arrest of a man suspected of links with the Takfiri Daesh terrorist group. (Photo by AFP)

Indonesia and neighboring Malaysia and the Philippines have geared up to confront the threats posed by Daesh militants gaining a foothold in the region.

The Takfiri outfit is mainly based in the Middle East, where at least 400 Indonesians have reportedly joined the group, fighting the governments in Iraq and Syria.

Dozens of those extremists have returned home.