124 arrested over latest Poso violence

124 arrested over latest Poso violence

MAKASSAR, South Sulawesi (JP): At least 124 people were
arrested over the weekend for their alleged involvement in
communal clashes in the Central Sulawesi town of Poso, local
security officers said on Sunday.

Sgt. Wasrul, a member of the local security task force, told
The Jakarta Post by phone from Poso that the people were arrested
during a search operation by security forces in Kolonedalle
village in Morowali regency.

Wasrul said that a team of security personnel was dispatched
to Kolonedalle after they were tipped off that the alleged
rioters were in the village.

Witnesses said that before the arrest, a 10-minute shootout
took place between security forces and the alleged rioters, who
were suspected of inciting riots and attacking intercity buses in
the area.

Unconfirmed reports said that some of the rioters were armed
with the American-made M-16 automatic rifles and wearing military
fatigues.

Authorities said last week that at least 29 security personnel
had been arrested and seven of them were believed to have been
involved in the Poso violence.

Spokesman for the local security task force Lt. Agus Salim
confirmed that there had been an exchange of fire and said that
security forces had also confiscated hundreds of homemade
weapons.

He said that a total of 124 people were arrested after
security personnel launched a 30-minute search operation in the
area.

Security forces have been mounting intensive search operations
in the last few days to locate bodies reportedly buried in a
number of mass graves or hidden in the jungle.

A local military leader said last week that at least 211
bodies, believed to be the victims of the violence that first
erupted in Poso in April, were found in a number of mass graves.

A series of joint military and police searches between May 23
and July 4 uncovered 127 bodies in mass graves along Poso River,
39 in Tagolu village, 11 in swamps in Lembah Sintuwu village and
34 in jungle ravines near Pandiri village.

Witnesses said, however, that as of Sunday, security
personnel had only been able to evacuate some 64 bodies.

Local authorities said that the death toll was likely to rise
as police and military continued their searches.

Observers believe that the Poso communal clashes are connected
with the prolonged violence in Maluku, where more than 3,000
people have been killed since the conflict erupted in January
1999.(27/byg)