Elite police personnel arrive in Poso
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.