JAKARTA, June 5 (Xinhua) -- Indonesian national police is beefing up its measures to tackle terrorist threat from emerging in the wake of a spate of suicide attacks in recent weeks.
National Police Chief General Tito Karnavian said on Tuesday that the police would expand the presence of the country's anti-terror squad known as Densus 88 across the archipelagic nation from current presence of only in some parts of the country, allowing the squad to take a quicker respond against threat potentially turning into terrorist terrorist strikes.
"I want to put more steams on the Densus 88, whose presence now is only in 16 spots, rising it to 34, one unit for each province," Karnavian revealed in the parliament building.
Financing has also been proposed to be rampped up by about 44 trillion rupiah (some 3.153 billion U.S. dollars), partly to support the move, notwithstanding, the compliance of the proposal have to be adjusted with the financial capability of the state, the general said.
The move came as the lawmakers have passed a tougher anti-terror laws, which give more power to police to take pre-emptive actions against plots or any movement potentially triggering terrorist strikes.
Indonesia has long battled Islamic militancy, whose worst-ever assault was in 2002 Bali Bombing that killed over 200 people, most of them foreign holiday makers.
The country's anti-terror squad nabbed hundreds of suspected militants following the attacks, but police said that it badly need a more powerful terrorism law back up crack down on terrorism.
The recent suicide attacks in Surabaya city of East Java and Riau province left 32 casualties and dozens of others injured.