Angry residents burn, stab police officers to death

BOGOR (JP): Angry residents of Gunung Sindur district here burned a man alive and stabbed another to death on Monday, reportedly over the wrongful fatal shooting of a worker.

A source at Bogor Police said that the two men were police officers, identified as Second Brig. Joko Supriatna and Second Brig. Agus Budiono, who were in plainclothes when the incident took place around 3:30 p.m.

Refusing to reveal details of the attack, Bogor Police chief of detectives Adj. Comr. Santun Marpaung said he was investigating the case.

"I have received confirmed information that one of them was burned while the other was stabbed to death. That's all," Santun told reporters.

"I'll give further details tomorrow (Tuesday)."

The Bogor Police source said that the officers allegedly conducted a gambling raid in the Prumpung village of Gunung Sindur, some 15 kilometers away from here, when they suddenly opened fire.

"At least two shots were fired, and suddenly, a woman named Siti, 35, was killed. She was wrongfully shot in the head," the source who requested anonymity, said.

Siti's uncle, Caca Arsyad, 50, told reporters at the Bogor Red Cross Hospital that like him, Siti worked at a salt-producing factory, PT Sinar Balok Abadi (SBA).

"I saw her leave the factory at about 3:30 p.m. I was at a foodstall outside the factory. Suddenly, I heard two gunshots, and I saw my niece falling," Caca told reporters at the hospital.

"Local residents heard the gunshots, and immediately assumed that those shooting were thieves. They ran after the two men."

Quoting witnesses, Caca said that at gun point the two police officers forced an ojek (motorcycle taxi) driver to help them escape.

"They headed towards Cibinong village, but suddenly, the motorcycle fell over. Probably the driver panicked. And that's when the incident happened," Caca said.

The officers, he said, took shelter in a local resident's house, but a large number of people surrounded and stoned the house, before pulling them out and killing them.

Should this incident prove to be a case of wrongful police shooting, it will be the second this year.

On Feb. 28, a police officer of the West Jakarta SWAT team shot to death a man after wrongfully identifying him as a robber.

The last incident in which police officers were burned to death was in December 1999, when two Gegana bomb squad members from the National Police Mobile Brigade (Brimob) unit were beaten and set on fire by at least 500 local residents from Karang Sambung Nagasari village, in Bekasi.

Police said that the two officers were initially involved in a fight with an ojek driver. The mob attacked the officers in revenge. (ylt/21)