Indonesia detains 14 people allegedly heading to Syria

Indonesia has detained 14 people, including several children, as they allegedly tried to travel to Syria, police said, where hundreds of their countrymen have joined extremist groups like the Islamic State (IS) group, Channel News Asia.

The Indonesians were stopped on Sunday at the international airport serving Jakarta as they tried to board a flight to Bangkok, from where they planned to continue on to Syria, Jakarta police spokesman Muhammad Iqbal said.

Among those identified were a family of five with three children from Tangerang, west of Jakarta, Iqbal said in a statement late on Sunday. Five others, including at least one child, were from the Indonesian part of Borneo island.

The group is being held at the airport while police work to establish the identities of the remaining suspects. Police did not say whether those detained planned to join IS.

Hundreds of Indonesians, many in families, have traveled to join the militants since they seized large swathes of territory in Syria and Iraq and proclaimed a "caliphate".

As of December 2015, more than 200 Indonesians had been deported by Turkey after trying and failing to enter Syria, Jakarta-based think-tank the Institute for Policy Analysis of Conflict said in a report last month.

Source: MENA