TUBAN: Indonesian police say they killed six suspected Islamic militants in a gun battle that followed a failed attack in East Java.

National police spokesman Martinus Sitompul said the men were cornered Saturday in a village of Tuban district after attempting to kill a police officer who was patrolling a busy road in the area.

He said the six had sparked the gun battle by throwing explosives at police.

The previous day, counter-terrorism police arrested three suspected militants who were planning to attack a police station in East Java.

Muslim-majority Indonesia has carried out a sustained crackdown on militants since the 2002 Bali bombings by al-Qaida-affiliated radicals that killed 202 people. A new threat has emerged in the past several years from Islamic State group sympathisers.