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)