Police launch ID raids in Poso in search of gunmen
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.