Indonesia Says Seized Islamic State Propaganda Likely Used by Children

Authorities believe Islamic State has thousands of sympathizers in Indonesia and are increasingly worried about the group trying to get a foothold in Southeast Asia as it loses territory in the Middle East.

“We’re still investigating who funded the printing of these books,” police spokesman Rikwanto told a news conference.

The material was displayed at the national police headquarters, alongside an air gun and other items.

The front covers of the notebooks had a picture of Islamic State leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and quotes attributed to him as made at Friday prayer,

“Tell all the apostates in the Muslim countries, these are their last days. And tell every infidel, we’re not playing anymore,” a quote attributed to Baghdadi read.

Russia has said it believes it might have killed the Islamic State leader in an air strike in Syria on June 17.

Indonesia has the world’s largest population of Muslims but is officially a secular country. Most Muslims practice a moderate form of the religion.

Children’s handwriting was found in some of the books, including notes about the solar system, which police said could mean the books had been used by children to take notes in school.

Police shot dead one suspect and arrested another man after the attack in Medan. The wife of the arrested man told police her husband had spent six months in Syria in 2013, authorities said previously.

Police believe the men were part of Jemaah Ansharut Daulah, an umbrella organization on a US State Department “terrorist” list which supports Islamic State and has hundreds of Indonesian followers.

Islamic State sympathizers have carried out a series of mostly low-level attacks in Indonesia over the past few years, and there are fears about the return of hundreds of battle-hardened Indonesians who have gone to Syria to support the group.