Gunmen kill farmer in Poso

Gunmen kill farmer in Poso

Agence France-Presse, Jakarta

Unidentified gunmen on Monday shot dead a farmer in the latest attack on Christians in the religiously-divided town of Poso, Central Sulawesi.

The 22-year-old man was shot dead while walking to work at Pinedapa village, said deputy Poso Police chief Comr. Rudi Trenggono.

He said a joint unit of paramilitary and regular police has been deployed to hunt the farmer's killers.

Earlier this month, masked gunmen killed 10 people in attacks on mainly Christian villages in the regency. Eight of them died in raids on three villages on Oct. 12.

The killings raised fears of a return to the Muslim-Christian violence which killed about 1,000 people in Poso in 2000 and 2001, until a government-brokered truce.

Police deployed scores of extra officers to track those behind the earlier attacks, shooting dead six suspects and arresting 15. They will be charged under an anti-terror law.

The al Qaeda-linked Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) terror group has eyed Poso as a potential training ground, according to a report by the International Crisis Group of political analysts.

Tempo magazine, in its edition published on Monday, quoted an anonymous JI member in Poso as saying the Oct. 12 attacks on Christian villages had been carried out by the network to "commemorate one-year anniversary of the Bali bombing".

Commenting on the report, Trenggono said: "Until now, we have not yet been able to conclude a possible involvement of a certain group."

JI is blamed for the Bali blasts on Oct. 12, 2002, which killed 202 people and a string of other bloody attacks.

One of the suspects arrested after the village raids is originally from Lamongan regency in East Java, the hometown of convicted Bali bombers Amrozi, Ali Imron and Ali Ghufron alias Muchlas.

At the height of the unrest at least two Islamic militias, Laskar Jihad and Laskar Jundullah, were operating in Central Sulawesi. --AFP