JAKARTA, Indonesia — A Singaporean who met several times with Osama bin Laden was among nine terror suspects arrested Wednesday in western Indonesia, a local television station reported.
A cache of powerful bombs packed with bullets was also seized in the raid.
The men initially planned to attack Western tourists on Sumatra Island, but changed their minds after realizing too many Indonesian lives could be lost, TVOne quoted anti- terror police as saying.
They reportedly were considering a bombing in the capital, Jakarta, instead.
Indonesia, the world’s most populous Muslim nation, has been hit in recent years by a string of suicide bombings that have killed more than 240 people. The regional terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah has been blamed in those attacks.
