Kalla links JI to Poso attacks<\/p>\n
Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta<\/p>\n
The government is looking into the possibility that Jamaah
\nIslamiyah (JI) may have had a central role in a series of recent
\nattacks in Poso regency, Central Sulawesi, which killed at least
\n13 people.<\/p>\n
Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla said on
\nTuesday that there were possible links between the violent
\nsoutheast Asian-based network and the incidents, citing the past
\npresence of JI training camps in the religiously divided area.<\/p>\n
\"We are investigating JI's involvement. But we are not sure
\nyet,\" he said after accompanying President Megawati Soekarnoputri
\nto a meeting with visiting Tajikistan President Emomali
\nSharipovich Rahmonov.<\/p>\n
\"There have been reports of JI training camps in the area, and
\nwe now gathering evidence that could make a connection between
\nthe camps and the recently arrested attackers,\" Kalla added.<\/p>\n
He added that another indication of JI's role in the
\ndisturbances was the fact that most of the local residents were
\nnot involved.<\/p>\n
\"It is a hard-line group that launched the attacks, while the
\nlocal people stayed out of the conflict,\" Kalla stressed.<\/p>\n
However, police were more careful, not ready to link the
\nvicious attacks against two Christian villages with JI.<\/p>\n
\"The recent violence in Poso was committed by a group of armed
\ngunmen with an aim to again unsettle Poso,\" said National Police
\ndeputy spokesman Brig. Gen Sunarko as quoted by DPA on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
He said that the attacks were made by \"old players\" of the
\nsectarian fighting and it was good that none of the local people
\nwere provoked to join in, as the attackers apparently hoped.<\/p>\n
Poso regency was largely peaceful after the government
\nbrokered a peace accord between Muslim and Christian leaders in
\nDecember 2001 to end the two-year conflict that killed well over
\n1,000 people since 2000.<\/p>\n
Kalla was one of the key brokers of the peace deal, known as
\nMalino Agreement I as it was produced during talks in the hill
\ntown of Malino, South Sulawesi.<\/p>\n
Amid the relative peace in Poso, authorities began to redeploy
\nthe reinforcement military troops and police from the regency
\nearlier this year and rotate them back to their home bases.<\/p>\n
At around the same time, intelligence operatives revealed the
\nexistence of JI training camps in Poso, and other parts of the
\ncountry, including Bogor, West Java.<\/p>\n
On Oct. 12, masked gunmen launched pre-dawn raids on three
\nmainly Christian villages in Poso, leaving at least 10 people
\ndead.<\/p>\n
Two days later a similarly described gang, in black hoods on
\nmotorcycles using military-type rifles, killed three others and
\nburned more than 30 houses in Beteleme, also a Christian village,
\nin the neighboring regency of Morowali, Central Sulawesi.<\/p>\n
Police have arrested 16 suspects in a regency-wide manhunt for
\nthe mysterious attackers by a joint police and military force.
\nThey also shot and killed five suspected members of the gang in
\nseparate shootouts.<\/p>\n
Though the detained suspects were not linked directly to any
\nterror group, the police said last week they would charge them
\nwith Law No. 15\/2003 on terrorism that carries a maximum
\npunishment of death.<\/p>\n
The police said at least one of the detainees was from
\nLamongan, East Java, the same village from whence convicted Bali
\nbombers Amrozi and his two brothers Ali Imron and Ali Ghufron
\nalias Mukhlas hail.<\/p>\n
It was the first time that the antiterrorism law had been
\napplied for a crime other than bombings.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, in Central Sulawesi, the Palu District Court opened
\non Tuesday the trial of suspected JI treasurer Fajri alias Yusuf
\ncharged with the antiterrorism law, Antara reported.<\/p>\n
Presided over by judge I Nyoman Somanadha, the court heard
\ncharges by prosecutor Fefry Silahahi, who said the defendant
\nplayed a role as a bookkeeper for the JI cell operating in
\nSulawesi.<\/p>\n
Minister Kalla further said the government would sponsor a new
\nmeeting in Poso this week between local religious leaders in a
\nbid to maintain peace after the provocative attacks.<\/p>\n
\"We will do it in both ways, through the help of religious
\nleaders to prevent locals from being provoked into renewed
\nfighting, while at the same time, law enforcement measures must
\ngo ahead,\" he said, adding that he would attend the meeting.<\/p>\n
Kalla said the dialog was also aimed at issuing a warning
\nagainst hardline religious groups in order for them not to create
\nmore chaos in Poso.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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