Ten suspects, including a Singaporean, were detained and a large cache of bombs found in recent raids in Palembang, 425 km (260 miles) northwest of Jakarta, and other areas in South Sumatra. The group had initially been plotting to attack a cafe popular with tourists in Bukittinggi, West Sumatra, a police source said, but had switched to Western targets in Jakarta.

The detentions were potentially “very significant” and the two dozen bombs found could have been deadly, said Carl Ungerer of the Australian Strategic Policy Institute.

Depending on where you set it off it could kill a lot of people, possibly as large as the original Bali bombing,” he said, referring to the 2002 Bali nightclub blasts that killed 202 people, mainly foreign tourists.

Indonesia’s national police chief, Sutanto, said the 20 active bombs, including 16 pipe bombs and tupperware bombs, were more deadly than in previous attacks.

“The technique now is they made (the bombs), not only with ball bearings but also bullets,” Sutanto said. “So when there’s a explosion of course the effect is double.”

Police believe the group took part in the assassination of a priest in Palembang last year and also a failed attempt to kill a priest in Bandung in West Java in 2005.

The suspects have also been linked to key figures involved in regional militant network Jemaah Islamiah (JI) including Noordin Mohammad Top, a fugitive Malaysian wanted for a string of attacks in Indonesia, and bomb-maker Azahari Husin, another Malaysian killed in a shootout with police in East Java in 2005.

The latest detentions may shed light on connections between different militant Islamic groups in Indonesia, said Sidney Jones, an analyst with the International Crisis Group.

“I think the most interesting thing is what the connection is between the people who conducted that attack on the priest in Bandung in late 2005 and the people who are in JI or associated with Noordin, because the people who did that attack were not JI,” she said.

Noordin Top is believed to have set up a splinter group within JI backing more violent methods.

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