Bajaj passenger killed

JAKARTA (JP): Three unknown men stabbed to death a bajaj (small three-wheeled taxi) passenger after failing to rob the victim's female relative in Tanah Abang, Central Jakarta, Thursday evening.

Central Jakarta Police Chief Lt. Col. Abubakar Nataprawira said the men, believed to be local hoodlums, stabbed Sarwo Edy, a textile trader, in the stomach while defending his relative, Karmila, from being robbed in a bajaj.

The woman is a resident of Jl. Lontar Atas, in Central Jakarta.

He said the 20-year-old victim and Karmila, 40, were in the bajaj on the way home when three men intercepted the bajaj in front of the crowded Tanah Abang railway station.

The men threatened Karmila, a herbal medicine vendor, with a knife but Edy attacked the men. Furious, the men then stabbed Edy, stole Karmila's seven-gram gold necklace and fled the scene.

Karmila shouted, Edy ran for help while holding his bloody stomach and the bajaj driver escaped in fear, abandoning his passengers.

Edy, a resident of Kampung Kanjar, Rembang, in Central Java, collapsed in front of the Jawa Sumatra hotel and died instantly.

Karmila told the police that Eddy had just arrived from Central Java and she was showing him around when the incident took place. (jun)