1,200 flee Poso villages
The Jakarta Post, Palu/Makassar
At least seven people were shot and wounded, four others missing and two churches and 27 houses burned to the ground in the worst violence to hit Poso in Central Sulawesi since a peace deal was signed eight months ago, signatories and activists said on Tuesday.
No casualties were reported, but at least four people -- Z. Doda, 26, Olmas Daya, 27, Yohan Ewakola, 21, and Cecen Mangiri, 20 -- were reported missing after the attack.
Sulaiman Mamar, a signatory of the peace agreement, was quoted by Antara as saying the attack was launched on Matako village in Tojo subdistrict, 40 kilometers from Poso, early on Sunday.
Activists from the Human Rights Advocacy and Legal Studies Institute (LPS-HAM) based in the Central Sulawesi capital of Palu, said the violence broke out at 3:30 a.m. It remains unclear who the attackers were.
They said around 1,200 people, mostly Christians, from Matako and the neighboring villages of Galuga, Malei-Lage and Tongkoyang, had fled and taken refuge in Tentena under coordination by the local crisis center.
The evacuation of the refugees, mostly women and small children, continued on Monday using 20 trucks and public buses.
Muslims residents in Matako also sought protection in safer areas in Poso.
The activists said five of the seven people shot were women. All the victims were receiving intensive medical treatment at the Tentena public hospital.
The activists said the attackers not only set two churches on fire, but also cut off the road connecting Poso, Palu and the Banggai Regency for at least 16 hours.
Also on Sunday, a series of fresh bombings rocked Poso. The targets included the house of Poso legislative council speaker Murad U. Nasir. The kitchen and rear of the building were severely damaged.
The latest attacks were a clear plot by extremists to disrupt the peace accord signed last December by both Muslim and Christian leaders in the hill resort of Malino in South Sulawesi.
Mamar condemned the Matako violence and urged security authorities to capture and take firm action against the attackers.
"It's too much," he said, noting that the attack was the worst since the signing of the peace pact.
He said the authorities should anticipate further incidents as retaliatory attacks could occur.
The latest incident was a serious insult to the Poso security authorities, the Malino signatories and the local administration as it took place just one day after they parties met to evaluate the town's security on Saturday.
Those attending the meeting, held at the Central Sulawesi governor's office, declared that social and security conditions in Poso were improving after the peace deal.
"But the reality tells a different story," Mamar said.
As the meeting took place on Saturday, Sukirman, a Muslim figure in Poso, was found decapitated with stabbed several times.
Meanwhile, Wirabuana Military Commander Maj. Gen. Amirul Isnaeni, overseeing security in Sulawesi, said on Tuesday that the local military in cooperation with the local administration was looking into the alleged presence of outside forces in Poso.
"We will investigate it," he said.
Foreign soldiers have reportedly arrived in Poso for unexplained reasons and motives. A dozen operatives from the Army's elite special forces, Kopassus, specializing in intelligence were sent there to investigate the reports.
Isnaeni said he has no plans to deploy troops to assist security authorities in Poso despite the increasing violence.