Jakarta: Islamic terrorists in Indonesia have a new target after militant godfather Abu Bakar Bashir threatened holy war against Myanmar's Buddhists.
Just hours after the threat was reported on radical site Voice of al-Islam on Thursday, two men were arrested carrying pipe bombs on their way to the Myanmar embassy in central Jakarta.
The report quoted Bashir, who motivated the Bali bombers in 2002, saying Myanmar was conducting genocide against Rohingya Muslims in the Arakan state in the country's west, and that jihad was the only solution.
''These events are all due to our own mistakes because we don't want to do jihad,'' Bashir is quoted as saying. ''The Muslims in the Philippines are strong because they want to do jihad.''
The leader, who is serving a 15-year jail term for terrorism offences, called upon Indonesia's ''mujahideen'', (fighters of holy war) to destroy Myanmar as they had destroyed the communist Soviet Union by throwing it out of Afghanistan.
''With the permission of Allah we will treat you and your people just like (we treated) communist Russia, which has gone to pieces, or just like America, which will perish soon (God willing),'' he is quoted as saying.
''The Buddhist teaching of love is just a nonsense because in reality it is the Buddhists who have slaughtered the Muslims of Rohingya.''
On Thursday night, Indonesian police arrested two men who were allegedly carrying five home-made bombs, as they made their way towards the Myanmar embassy.
Two others were arrested later after anti-terrorism police raided a property in south Jakarta and seized more explosives. Police spokesman Boy Rafli Amar said those arrested were seeking revenge for the treatment of Rohingya Muslims in Myanmar.
Several hundred members of the violent grassroots Islamic Defenders Front rallied in central Jakarta on Friday, chanting jihad slogans, and planned to march to the Myanmar embassy, where a large contingent of
riot police prepared to confront them. The marchers chanted about jihad, and carried signs saying, ''We want to go for jihad to Myanmar,'' and ''Stop Rohingya Genocide''.
At least 200 Muslims were killed and more than 125,000 chased from their homes in Arakan state last year. Human Rights Watch accused Rakhine Buddhist groups of instigating the violence and the state authorities of failing to intervene.
On April 5, eight Buddhist fishermen were killed in a clash with Rohingya Muslims at a detention centre in Sumatra, Indonesia, after the Buddhists raped and harassed three Muslim women.