Five more killed in 'ninja' murder spree
JAKARTA (JP): Five more people were lynched by mobs in several districts of Central Java after residents accused them of being members of marauding gangs of "ninja" assassins who have killed more than 180 people in the neighboring province of East Java in the past few months.
Two of the victims were killed in Jepara, two others were beaten to death in Bumiayu, while the last one was killed in Demak. It has been confirmed that at least three of the victims were mentally ill men and a woman -- who was forced to strip. The murders took place Thursday afternoon.
The incidents have been confirmed by Jepara Police precinct chief Lt. Col. Monang Manulang and Bonang district chief Djatmiko in Demak.
"This has gone too far," said Manulang. "People do need to secure their villages, but killing mentally ill people? Residents should not take the law into their own hands."
Meanwhile, Suara Pembaruan evening daily reported that Central Java Police had rounded up some 200 mentally disturbed people to prevent them from being lynched by mobs who might suspect them of being assassins, a report said Friday.
Provincial police chief Maj. Gen. Nurfaizi said the police had launched an operation on Nov. 3 to pick up homeless, mentally disturbed people and so far had been able to round up some 200 men and women.
Nurfaizi was quoted by the daily as saying the operation was launched following cases of mentally ill people being attacked by mobs which believed they were "ninja" assassins because they walked alone at night and refused to answer questions.
The police chief said those rounded up were not under arrest but were given protection at police posts in the areas where they were found.
Black-clad assailants initially targeted traditional Javanese witchcraft practitioners but later spread to include Moslem teachers and scholars in the area.
The killings have taken place mostly in East Java, but fears of the killers have raised tension throughout Java, with some reports saying they may be linked to conflict within the country's political elite.
There has been a grisly backlash to the killings, with suspected "ninjas" lynched, even in areas of West and Central Java. Mobs have attacked, burned, hanged and beaten to death people found without identification or roaming the countryside after dark.
The Indonesian Medical Association (IDI) has protested the fact that many with mental disorders have been among innocent victims.
Separately, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Subagyo Hadisiswoyo said in Jakarta he would check reports that suspected "ninjas" operating in East Java were ex-servicemen who deserted from the Army's Special Force (Kopassus).
"If proven that Kopassus deserters are involved in the murder spree and have trained youths to be 'ninjas' to intimidate Moslem clerics, they must be punished," he said.
DeTak tabloid recently quoted a former Kopassus member as saying that Kopassus deserters suspected of being involved in the murder spree were trained in Cikarang, West Java.
Separately, the terror raised by the murders has spread to even remoter regions. In Waikabubak, Sumba, East Nusa Tenggara, 19 were killed in an inter-neighborhood fight which erupted following rumors that masked killers were roaming the streets.
Udayana Regional Military Commander Maj. Gen. Adam R. Damiri denied local paper reports about the rumored presence of masked men.
Thousands of residents of Loli subdistrict fought with others from East Wewewa district, according to police, following the looting of homes of Loli people living in Wewewa.
The Wewewa residents attacked people from Loli after hearing that some "ninjas" from Loli were heading for Wewewa to kill people, East Nusa Tenggara Police chief Col. E.P. Hillep said.
Hillep said the fight involved traditional weapons such as spears and machetes and that the violence forced shopping centers, schools and offices there to close.
Some 700 people sought refuge at the police headquarters, he added.
Hillep said that although order in the two subdistricts had been restored, tension was still high. (yac/rms/har/45)