Indonesian anti-terror police have arrested five men who allegedly arranged for a group of mostly women and children to try and enter Syria to join the Islamic State group, an official said.

The 11 children, four women and one man, detained in the Turkish border town of Gaziantep, are the latest example of Indonesians heading to battlegrounds in the Middle East.

In a series of raids in and around Jakarta on the weekend, elite anti-terror police rounded up the five men, who are suspected of helping the 16 people who were recently caught.