Indonesian police arrest 53 linked to new militant cell

The arrests were made in 11 provinces in the past two weeks, including five men who were arrested on Thursday.

Indonesian police said Thursday they have arrested at least 53 suspected militants in recent weeks believed to have links to banned extremist groups, in a nationwide crackdown on a new cell of Jemaah Islamiyah, blamed for a string of past bombings. The arrests were made in 11 provinces in the past two weeks, including five men who were arrested on Thursday, National Police spokesperson Ahmad Ramadhan said. Those arrested are mostly suspected of being members of Jemaah Islamiyah, an al-Qaida-linked group responsible for 2002 bombings in Bali that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists, and other attacks. It was banned by a court in 2008 and has been weakened by a sustained crackdown on militants by counterterrorism police with U.S. and Australian support.