Three suspected militants were killed by police in Indonesia Thursday, bringing the total to seven this week, dpa quoted police as saying. The raid early Thursday in Central Java province came a day after counterterrorism police killed four militants and arrested three others in two raids in Central and West Java provinces. Officers exchanged gunfire with suspects for several hours in Kebumen district, national police spokesman Boy Rafli Amar said. "Three people were killed because they resisted," and another three arrested, he said. National police chief Timur Pradopo said those killed Wednesday were linked to suspects arrested recently in the eastern Indonesian towns of Poso and Makassar and on Java island. A string of bomb attacks since 2000 has been blamed on Islamic militants. They include the 2002 Bali bombings, in which 202 people were killed. This week's raids followed the arrest of two men in Jakarta last week for an alleged plot to bomb the Myanmar embassy. They were apparently seeking revenge for attacks on fellow Muslims in Buddhist-majority Myanmar, police said. Clashes in Myanmar between Buddhist and Muslim communities have claimed more than 200 lives since last year.
