5 killed in Indonesia Police HQ attack

Five people, including four militants and a policeman, were killed when eight terrorists attacked the police headquarters in Indonesia's Riau province on Wednesday.

This was the second attack on a police premise in the country since Monday.

A white mini van intruded the compound of the police headquarters in Pekanbaru at 9 a.m. but was stopped by other cars, Xinhua news agency reported.

Suddenly the militants exited the car and immediately staged strikes with swords against policemen, said a police spokesman.

Two policemen were injured in the sword attacks and another was killed after being hit by the vehicle which was trying to escape the compound of the headquarters.

"So far there are four perpetrators whom we have shot dead. One of them was being checked by a bomb squad," the police spokesman said, referring to a suspected bomb strapped to the militant's body. Other militants escaped the compound and a hunt was on to find them.

A footage showed that a man lying on the ground with a sword next to his body. Two journalists who were at the headquarters were also wounded.

The attack came days after a series of terrorist strikes in the country, including suicide bombings in three churches on Sunday in Surabaya city, the provincial capital of East Java and a suicide bombing at the police headquarters in the city, which left at least 25 people dead and dozens injured.

It was said to be the deadliest since the 2002 Bali attack. A suicide bombing was also reported at the city's police headquarters on Monday when bike-borne attackers blew themselves up at the checkpoint to the precinct.

--IANS

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