Elite police personnel arrive in Poso
Ruslan Sangadji, The Jakarta Post, Palu, Central Sulawesi
More than 300 additional paramilitary police arrived in the religiously-mixed regency of Poso, Central Sulawesi, on Monday after an new attack on a church over the Easter weekend injured seven Christians.
The shooting at the Tabernacle Church in Kilo village, Poso Pesisir subdistrict, on Saturday revived fears of a return to sectarian fighting in the regency, which killed some 2,000 people over two years from late 1999.
Deputy Poso Police chief Comr. Rudi Tranggono said 120 Mobile Brigade (Brimob) reinforcements had been deployed from Jakarta and 80 others from Balikpapan, East Kalimantan.
Around 100 other Brimob troopers were sent in from Palu, Central Sulawesi, he added.
Two weeks ago, another batch of 100 Brimob officers had also been flown from Jakarta after a clergyman was shot dead by gunmen, who also wounded a woman lecturer in Poso. In an earlier attack, a Christian man was shot in front of his wife.
In the worst bloodshed last year, gunmen in October killed 10 people in attacks on mainly Christian villages.
The latest reinforcements bring the number of police in the town to at least 2,492. They are being assisted by up to 1,300 soldiers.
These figures exclude an unspecified number of police and military intelligence officers deployed in the Poso area.
The security forces, brandishing firearms, have tightened security in the town but appear powerless to stop the renewed attacks blamed on unidentified gunmen.
Christians have lashed out at police for failing to prevent the latest shooting incidents, despite a government-brokered peace deal signed in December 2001 to end the fighting.
No suspects have been arrested over Saturday's shootings.
Police have declined to speculate on the identity of the attackers, who wore black outfits and hoods and were armed with automatic weapons. But they believe the gunmen were from the same group that perpetrated the previous attacks.
A senior security official blamed previous killings on members of the Al-Qaeda-linked Jamaah Islamiyah regional extremist group.
Rudi said the police had identified the weapons used by Saturday's attackers as M-16 rifles, with 5.56 millimeter bullet cases having been found at the scene.
He said the gunmen probably fled into the jungle after the shootings.
"We are continuing to comb the forest for the suspects, but to no avail so far. We will hunt them down wherever they flee," he vowed.
Meanwhile, Poso remained calm after the April 10 Easter shooting incident. There were no reports of demonstrations or gatherings of people set on avenging the victims of the latest violence.
Despite fears of more attacks, local residents continued to work as usual and traffic was normal. The security forces checked vehicles traveling to and from Poso.
Shortly after Saturday's attack, the residents of the mainly Christian town of Tentena gathered en masse and checked every vehicle passing through the town.
On Sunday night, they gathered in a church to pray for the seven injured victims, including a four-year old girl, who were being treated at the hospital.
They also prayed for harmony between Christians and Muslims to prevail in Poso and for people not to be provoked into renewed fighting.
Noldy Tacoh, who heads the advocacy section of a local crisis center, urged Christians to remain calm and avoid being incited to retaliate.
"I see there are attempts to provoke Christians to take revenge. But, thank God, they have not done so," he said in Tentena.