Joint team kills another Poso gunman, arrests six more

La Remmy, The Jakarta Post, Palu, Central Sulawesi

A top police official said on Sunday a joint military and police force have killed another gunman and arrested six other people as they combed Pawaru subdistrict, Lembo district in Central Sulawesi.

The seven people were suspected of being involved in the killing of at least 13 people in recent attacks in Poso and Morowali regencies in Central Sulawesi province.

The arrest on late Saturday has brought the number of suspects killed during the manhunt operation to four, while the latest event has also brought the number of people arrested in the manhunt operation to 13.

Taufik Ridha, the chief of Central Sulawesi police, said that the latest suspect killed was Rachmat Seba alias Romo, 38, who was believed to be the coach for the group of men perpetrated attack in Poso and Morowali regencies.

Meanwhile, the other four, who were arrested in the same occasion, were H bin Tg, 20, R bin HMA, 23, SAK, 21 and AB, 40.

In the Saturday raid, the joint team has also seized two U.S.- made M-16 rifles with two magazines and 206 bullets, and another SKS rifle with one magazine and 20 bullets.

The team also confiscated another magazine of SKS rifle, with 27 bullets in it. "Those people are all civilians. They wanted to live up conflicts in Poso, and tried to spread it into Morowali regency," said Taufik in a press conference on Sunday.

The police previously killed Ari, 25, Ali Lasawedi, 31 and Saddam, 30. Other seven suspects, who were also arrested in the previous police combing in a forest near Bintangor village -- some 40 kilometers from Beteleme subdistrict in Morowali regency, were Ishak, 39, Ardianto, 21, Habit, 22, Hasyim, 25, Aswan, 36, Andang, 23, Aco, 27 and Ardiansyah, 26.

All the 17 suspects, four were dead and 13 arrested, were believed to have killed nine people, mostly Christians, in three coastal villages in Poso regency last week on Oct. 12.

Two days before the Oct. 12, they believed to have killed three people and burned down 30 homes in Beteleme, in Morowali regency, some 200 kilometers from Poso regency.

The series of attacks have created fears of insecurity to the residents of the two regencies, and reminded them on bloody fighting between Muslims and Christians in Poso since year 2000, where about 2,000 people have been killed in religious violence.

The sectarian conflict have been put to an end by a peace accord in December 2001, but the possibility for conflict to revive again was still there.

Taufik said that the joint team, led by Sr. Comr. Tatang Soemantri, the Central Sulawesi Police's chief detective, were now hunting down other suspects believed to be involved in recent attacks in Morowali and Poso regencies. They are among others Asw and Endong.

Meanwhile, the remains of Ali Lasawedi and Saddam, who were killed several days ago, were buried on Sunday afternoon in Pogego Muslim Cemetery in the South Sulawesi capital of Palu, some three hours drive from Poso regency. The remains of Ari was already buried in Palu on Saturday.