Counter-terrorism starts in Indonesia

An international conference on fighting terrorism has been started in Indonesia to strengthen global cooperation in the fight against the growing threat of extremism.

According to the reports, government and security experts from 20 countries have attended the two-day ministerial meeting, which opened on Indonesia's resort island of Bali on Wednesday.

The participants discussed ways to counter terrorist activities around the world in light of recent attacks, calling for greater cooperation in intelligence-sharing and more measures to deter flows of “terrorism financing.”

“Cyber technology should be utilized to prevent terrorist networks from using the Internet as mean of propaganda, recruitment, cyber-attacks and cyber-crime,” said Indonesian Chief Security Minister Wiranto, who chaired the meeting.

The official underlined the need for monitoring the returning foreign terrorists “through cooperation on intelligence- and information-sharing as well as best practices on border control.”

Deputy Executive Director of UN Counter-Terrorism Committee Executive Directorate (CTED) Chen Weixiong also attended the meeting.

The UN official expressed the world body’s support for the member states to “combat terrorism and address the drivers of violent extremism.”

“Capacity building measures, the sharing of good practices and measures to strengthen international and regional cooperation are more essential than ever,” he said.

The meeting came just days after Indonesian forces arrested six men plotting a "rocket attack" on Singapore.

The men are said to have been taking instructions from Bahrun Naim, an Indonesian who has joined the Daesh Takfiri terrorist group in Syria.

Indonesian investigators believed Naim is one of the masterminds behind a January attack, claimed by Daesh, in the capital, Jakarta, that killed eight people, including four attackers.

SS