Kalla links JI to Poso attacks

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The government is looking into the possibility that Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) may have had a central role in a series of recent attacks in Poso regency, Central Sulawesi, which killed at least 13 people.

Coordinating Minister for People's Welfare Jusuf Kalla said on Tuesday that there were possible links between the violent southeast Asian-based network and the incidents, citing the past presence of JI training camps in the religiously divided area.

"We are investigating JI's involvement. But we are not sure yet," he said after accompanying President Megawati Soekarnoputri to a meeting with visiting Tajikistan President Emomali Sharipovich Rahmonov.

"There have been reports of JI training camps in the area, and we now gathering evidence that could make a connection between the camps and the recently arrested attackers," Kalla added.

He added that another indication of JI's role in the disturbances was the fact that most of the local residents were not involved.

"It is a hard-line group that launched the attacks, while the local people stayed out of the conflict," Kalla stressed.

However, police were more careful, not ready to link the vicious attacks against two Christian villages with JI.

"The recent violence in Poso was committed by a group of armed gunmen with an aim to again unsettle Poso," said National Police deputy spokesman Brig. Gen Sunarko as quoted by DPA on Tuesday.

He said that the attacks were made by "old players" of the sectarian fighting and it was good that none of the local people were provoked to join in, as the attackers apparently hoped.

Poso regency was largely peaceful after the government brokered a peace accord between Muslim and Christian leaders in December 2001 to end the two-year conflict that killed well over 1,000 people since 2000.

Kalla was one of the key brokers of the peace deal, known as Malino Agreement I as it was produced during talks in the hill town of Malino, South Sulawesi.

Amid the relative peace in Poso, authorities began to redeploy the reinforcement military troops and police from the regency earlier this year and rotate them back to their home bases.

At around the same time, intelligence operatives revealed the existence of JI training camps in Poso, and other parts of the country, including Bogor, West Java.

On Oct. 12, masked gunmen launched pre-dawn raids on three mainly Christian villages in Poso, leaving at least 10 people dead.

Two days later a similarly described gang, in black hoods on motorcycles using military-type rifles, killed three others and burned more than 30 houses in Beteleme, also a Christian village, in the neighboring regency of Morowali, Central Sulawesi.

Police have arrested 16 suspects in a regency-wide manhunt for the mysterious attackers by a joint police and military force. They also shot and killed five suspected members of the gang in separate shootouts.

Though the detained suspects were not linked directly to any terror group, the police said last week they would charge them with Law No. 15/2003 on terrorism that carries a maximum punishment of death.

The police said at least one of the detainees was from Lamongan, East Java, the same village from whence convicted Bali bombers Amrozi and his two brothers Ali Imron and Ali Ghufron alias Mukhlas hail.

It was the first time that the antiterrorism law had been applied for a crime other than bombings.

Meanwhile, in Central Sulawesi, the Palu District Court opened on Tuesday the trial of suspected JI treasurer Fajri alias Yusuf charged with the antiterrorism law, Antara reported.

Presided over by judge I Nyoman Somanadha, the court heard charges by prosecutor Fefry Silahahi, who said the defendant played a role as a bookkeeper for the JI cell operating in Sulawesi.

Minister Kalla further said the government would sponsor a new meeting in Poso this week between local religious leaders in a bid to maintain peace after the provocative attacks.

"We will do it in both ways, through the help of religious leaders to prevent locals from being provoked into renewed fighting, while at the same time, law enforcement measures must go ahead," he said, adding that he would attend the meeting.

Kalla said the dialog was also aimed at issuing a warning against hardline religious groups in order for them not to create more chaos in Poso.