Military personnel may be involved in killings: NU

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)