If you're thinking about taking that glorious holiday to Bali, you may have to think again. This perfect holiday haven for many Australians is in the news. For the wrong reasons.

Not many would've forgotten the nightclub bombings of 2002 in which more than 200 people were killed, mostly Australians.

On Monday the Indonesian police may just have averted another such gory attack in the making. In a bloody encounter the police shot dead five suspected militants believed to have planned attacks across the island, including a night club popular with foreign tourists, many of them Australians. The suspected militants have been said to have links with the same Jemaah Islamiah group, which bombed the nightclub in 2002.

Ansyaad Mbai, the chief of the national counter terrorism agency, said that the suspects had done their homework and had surveyed the targets which they were to bomb. All five died in the shoot out with the Indonesian police as they tried to escape. However, some members of the group are still said to be out there.

Bali has an extremely large Hindu population. It is possible that the militants were timing the attacks with Nyepi, a Balinese day of silence, which is the Balinese-Hindu New Year. On the eve of Nyepi there is a large parade which attracts many tourists.

However, the Indonesian authorities have said that the suspects were planning heists at popular locations, like nightclubs, moneychangers, cafes as well as jewelry stores across Bali. They planned to bomb, rob and flee with the money which would then have been used to fund their terror activities.

The authorities have confirmed that one of the killed militants was part of the terror camp that was discovered in Aceh in 2010. This camp was headed by Abu Bashir, leader of the same group, Jemaah Islamiyah, which was responsible for the 2002 bombings. Though Bashir was arrested and is currently in prison serving a 15 year sentence, it has not stopped other members of the group from planning terrorist activities.

The anti-terrorism unit had been secretly tailing the notorious group for a month. On Sunday night about 100 armed Detachment 88 officers broke through the hotel where the suspects were hiding. A bloody encounter followed that left five militants dead, including the leader known as HN. He was on the wanted list for a long time and had robbed a bank in 2010.

In the wake of this shooting there are now fresh fears about traveling to Bali. The Department of Foreign Affairs in Australia has warned against travel to the popular resort island. It has advised Australians to reconsider their need to travel due to the high probability of a terrorist attack.