Joint team kills another Poso gunman, arrests six more
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.