House-to-house weapons search begins in Poso

Ruslan Sangadji, The Jakarta Post, Palu, Central Sulawesi

Local police conducted a house-to-house search for guns and other weapons on Tuesday after a renewed attack that injured seven Christians three days ago in Poso regency, Central Sulawesi.

The search is focused on finding the automatic and homemade firearms that were used by the unidentified gunmen who launched the Easter weekend attack on Saturday in Kilo village, Poso Pesisir subdistrict.

Central Sulawesi Police chief Brig. Gen. Taufik Ridha said the search started at around 8 a.m. simultaneously across the religiously divided town and involved 200 officers from the police's Mobile Brigade (Brimob) unit.

The search had uncovered no weapons, ammunition, bombs nor other weaponry by 12:30 p.m.

"We have yet to locate any civilians who are storing these weapons in their homes," Taufik said.

He said the police persuaded civilians to join in the search.

The house-to-house search is to continue for the next two weeks. "It's routine procedure for a Poso Police operation," Taufik said.

The police had said earlier that they had identified the weapons used by Saturday's attackers as M-16 rifles from the 5.56-millimeter bullet casings recovered from the scene of the attack.

The search came after more than 300 reinforcement Brimob officers arrived on Monday after the recent attack.

Two weeks ago, 100 Brimob officers were flown in from Jakarta after a clergyman was shot dead and a woman lecturer was wounded by gunmen here. In an earlier attack, a Christian man was shot in front of his wife.

In the worst bloodshed last year, gunmen killed 10 people in attacks on predominantly Christian villages in October.

Saturday's shooting at the Tabernacle Church in Kilo rekindled fears of a return of sectarian conflict in the religiously mixed town.

Shortly after the attack, residents of the mainly Christian town of Tentena gathered en masse seeking to avenge the victims of the incident and checked every vehicle passing through the town. Dozens of police arrived soon to keep the situation under control.

None of the unidentified attackers, dressed from head to toe in black combat uniforms, were captured despite the new Brimob reinforcements.

Meanwhile, four-year-old Sela Matoneng and Devi Gorigi, 29, who were among those wounded in the church shooting, will soon go into surgery at Poso General Hospital.

Dr. Mappicarang, the head surgeon, said the two had to be operated on in order to prevent paralysis from their injuries.

At least 2,000 people have been killed in the two-year sectarian conflict in Poso that began in late 1999.

In December 2001, the fighting ended with a government- brokered peace deal that was signed by local Muslim and Christian leaders, but sporadic attacks continued into 2003.