JAKARTA, Dec. 13 (Xinhua) -- Indonesia will boost security before, during and after Christmas and New Year across the country amid possible terrorist strikes and other security disturbances, officials said Friday.
A total of 117,000 personnel, including 17,190 from the military, would be dispatched to secure religious buildings, shopping centers and tourism destinations where people would gather, to ensure a safe holiday season, Indonesian Military Commander Air Chief Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto said.
Western facilities as well as Christian churches and followers have been primarily targeted by militants in Indonesia, and recently the militants also targeted police personnel.
Indonesian Chief Security Minister Mahfud MD said on Friday that the government has been taking precautionary measures over possible terrorist threats for Christmas' Eve and New Year's Eve.
"Possible terrorist threats and torching down of religious buildings must be immediately anticipated," the minister said.
The Indonesian police would hold a security operation from Dec. 23 to Jan. 1, 2020, involving 100,000 police personnel, the National Police's spokesman Brigadier General Argo Yuwono said at the police headquarters.
Several provinces would be put into security priority, including the country's capital of Jakarta, the provinces of Banten, West Java, Central Java, East Java, Papua and West Papua, the spokesman said.
