Life can be trying for Christians in some places in Indonesia, such as in West Java, where Regional Police are investigating a bomb threat from a militant Islamic group during a graduation ceremony at Parahyangan Catholic University (UNPAR) in Bandung.

The head of the West Java Police Public Relations, Senior Commissioner Jules Abraham Abast, stated that the threat was spread in a terror letter flyer sent to the campus ahead of the Nov. 15-17 graduation ceremony, the Indonesian news agency Antara reported.

Indonesian police have tightened security around the university following the alleged bomb threat, the UCA Catholic news agency reported.

The increased security came after Parahyangan Catholic University received the threatening letter sent in the name of Jamaah Ansharut Daulah, a banned fanatical group pledging allegiance to the transnational terror group Islamic State.

The letter claimed several bombs were planted in a campus auditorium. It also threatened that bombs would be detonated if the graduation ceremony scheduled on Nov. 15-16 went ahead.

"Immediately cancel the event and all activities related to it in the future and do not dare to conduct searches, scans, or worse, contact the police/other security forces," read the letter, addressed to the campus rector, Tri Basuki Joewono.

- NO BOMB FOUND

Police spokesperson Abast said a police team searched the campus on Nov. 14 but found no bomb.

However, Abast said they had still secured the campus area by deploying 100 personnel during the graduation.

"We continue to monitor the campus; students and families have been given IDs as a sign when they will enter the campus and attend the graduation," he said.

The university said it continues with increased vigilance by coordinating with security forces "to ensure that the campus environment remains safe."

The university said, "We also appeal to campus residents to support each other and remain calm. "

The campus had also experienced a similar bomb threat in 2008, which targeted the university's rector.

Parahyangan Catholic University was founded in 1955 and has nine faculties. Seminarians from the Order of the Holy Cross and the dioceses of Bogor and Bandung study philosophy at the university.

Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim nation, with 87 percent of its 281 million people following Islam. Christians account for nearly 11 percent of its people, and Protestants account for 7.5 percent. According to the CIA Factbook, Hindus comprise 1.7 percent of the population.

Indonesia has struggled with Islamic militancy since extremists bombed popular tourist destination Bali in 2002, killing 202 people.

Jamaah Ansharut Daulah is notorious for terror activities, including bombings, noted the UCA report.

- 'FORBIDDEN ORGANIZATION'

In July 2018, the South Jakarta District Court declared the group a "forbidden organization" after prosecutors indicted the group for carrying out several terrorist attacks across the country.

The group was founded in 2014 by Aman Abdurrahman, who was sentenced to death on June 22, 2018, for masterminding several terror attacks across Indonesia.

It was accused of carrying out a series of attacks, including one in January 2016 in Jakarta that killed eight people and an attack in November 2017 against the Batak Society Christian Church of Oikumene in Samarinda, East Kalimantan, that left four people dead.

The group was also accused of being behind a riot at a police detention center on the outskirts of Jakarta on May 9, 2018. The violence killed five guards and a detainee.

On May 13 that year, suicide bombers attacked three churches in Surabaya, East Java, leaving 18 dead.