Suspected Indonesian radicals armed with bows and arrows burn down police complex

The apparent culprits in the arson attack on the police station in Dharmasraya, West Sumatra, Indonesia on November 12, 2017fought back with bos and arrows Antara Foto/Indonesia Out via Reuters

Indonesian police shot dead two men suspected of burning down a police station complex in a jihadist-inspired attack after they fired at them with bows and arrows.

The two suspects fired at the police with bows and arrows before they were killed, officials said.

All the main buildings at the police headquarters in Dharmasraya regency in West Sumatra were burnt to the ground in Sunday's attack. There were no casualties but police say a jihadist message was found scrawled on a piece of paper on one of the dead men.

"We are investigating links between the fire and the two terrorists who were killed," said national police spokesman Rikwanto.

It was firefighters who had found two suspects near the complex and reported them to police. The suspects tried to shoot at police with bows and arrows and were shot dead.

Police and police buildings have been the primary targets for militants in Indonesia for many years, because of a sustained crackdown by the antiterrorism force on home-grown radicals.

Detachment 88 — known locally as 'Densus 88' — has managed to stamp out or weaken many radical Islamist networks. But the world's largest Muslim-majority nation has seen a recent resurgence in radicalism, inspired largely by Islamic State.

A series of small-scale attacks since early 2016 have been linked to Islamic State, which is believed to have thousands of sympathisers in Indonesia.