Military personnel may be involved in killings: NU
JAKARTA (JP): Military personnel and a government official may have been involved in a mysterious murder spree of more than 100 people in East Java, according to Antara on Wednesday.
The news agency quoted the leader of the provincial chapter of the Nahdlatul Ulama (NU) Moslem organization, Hasyim Muzadi, as saying that two members of the Armed Forces and a village chief were suspects in the killings, which seemingly targeted Islamic teachers and alleged practitioners of "black magic".
"(The alleged involvement of) a village official was reported by NU's investigation team, while the alleged involvement of the two military personnel was explained by Brawijaya Regional Military Chief (Maj. Gen. Djoko Subroto) on Saturday," Hasyim told about 100 NU executives in the provincial capital of Surabaya.
Hasyim, however, said it was still unclear which military units the suspects were from.
He also said he still could not convey further details about the alleged involvement of the village official.
"We still do not have a complete report. The (NU) team only reported that the attacks on the Banyuwangi Police Precinct demanding the release of the suspected killers (last week) was instructed by a village chief but it is still not clear from which village," Hasyim said.
NU has invited the regional military and police chiefs to explain the matter to them on Oct. 14, he said.
Suara Pembaruan evening daily, however, reported the East Java Police as saying on Wednesday that three people from a subdistrict military office, a subdistrict military police officer and an official from the district office of religious affairs were all suspected of being involved in the killing spree.
Suspects
The police identified the five after questioning up to 65 suspects on Tuesday. As of Wednesday, a further 72 people were in police custody for questioning, the report said.
It added that among the 72 in custody, 11 were suspected of plotting the murders, six of financing them and the remaining 55 of carrying out the actual killings.
Also on Wednesday, Antara quoted National Police Chief Lt. Gen. Roesmanhadi as saying that the police had discovered that one of the suspects had links to the outlawed Indonesian Communist Party (PKI).
"We have found out that one of those arrested is linked to the PKI. According to our preliminary findings, the link was one of his relatives," Roesmanhadi said during a break of a meeting with the House of Representatives Commission I on security and defense.
Roesmanhadi said the killings showed a pattern similar to that which followed the failed Sept. 30, 1965 communist coup.
"Regions like south Malang and south Banyuwangi used to be PKI bases," he said.
Commenting on the spread of the killings to other areas, Roesmanhadi said: "The police and the military did not have enough personnel to safeguard all villages." (nur/byg)