Police launch ID raids in Poso in search of gunmen

Irvan NR, The Jakarta Post, Palu, Central Sulawesi

Police further tightened security in Poso regency, Central Sulawesi on Monday by checking the identity cards of residents in an effort to prevent more attacks by gunmen in the religiously divided town.

Those who could not produce ID cards would be taken into police custody for questioning, Central Sulawesi Police chief Brig. Gen. Taufik Ridha said in the provincial capital of Palu.

He said migrants were required to state their purpose and activities in Poso and local neighborhood unit heads were asked to be honest in issuing ID cards.

The ID checks were carried out via a house-to-house search for bombs, firearms and sharp weapons. At least 11 men from Tegal regency, Central Java, reportedly disappeared in Poso in the last six months.

Taufik said police would also search trans-Sulawesi travellers passing through Poso and the neighboring regency of Parigimoutong for sharp weapons.

On Sunday, police in Parigi subdistrict, Parigimoutong, arrested at least 13 street vendors from Jombang regency, East Java.

They were released hours later after producing valid ID cards.

Referring to the recent shootings of a clergyman and a university lecturer by unidentified men in Poso, Taufik vowed the police would prevent further violence.

Residents in Tentena, a mainly Christian village, who had gathered en masse to protest the attacks, dispersed hours after hundreds of police personnel arrived at the scene.

The mass gathering had sparked fears of the renewal of sectarian fighting between Muslims and Christians. Some 2000 people were killed in two years of sectarian clashes in Poso since late 1999.

While fighting largely stopped after warring parties signed a government-brokered peace pact in December 2001, sporadic attacks continued.

Taufik said more attacks were possible in July around the time of the presidential election. In the house-to-house search on Sunday in Poso Pesisir subdistrict -- which was carried out with the assistance of the military after tipoffs from local residents -- police seized 21 live bombs, a rocket launcher, 17 bows and two homemade firearms, as well as police and military uniforms.

A day earlier 17 live bombs had been discovered in the same subdistrict.

The bombs had been hidden under a bridge and in a cacao plantation in Masani village.