Police officer killed by 11 drunk assailants

JAKARTA (JP): A police officer was mobbed and stabbed to death on Tuesday by at least 11 unidentified, intoxicated assailants, some of whom were reportedly Military Police officers, on Jl. Lautze Raya in Sawah Besar, Central Jakarta.

Central Jakarta Police chief Sr. Comr. Mathius Salempang identified the victim as Chief Brig. Tulus Pasaribu, 33, whom he said had approached his alleged attackers early on Tuesday morning to warn them about excessive drinking.

Mathius added that seven of the 11 suspects were currently being questioned by police detectives. The remaining suspects were reportedly still at large.

"Tulus had seen the men getting drunk at a small stall on Jl. Lautze. He had gone up to them and had told them to stop whatever they were doing there ... instead the men all got angry, and pounced on him. They mobbed him to death," Mathius told reporters at the Central Jakarta police station.

"After mobbing him to death, the 11 men, including members of the Indonesian Military (TNI), ran off. We got hold of the first suspect, Mansyur, who then implicated the others."

In an unrelated development, Cilandak Police detectives in South Jakarta shot dead a suspected cell phone thief on Jl. Fatmawati, early on Tuesday morning.

Police identified the suspected thief as Samson Sembiring, 24, whom they said often targeted victims around the Fatmawati intersection.

"He was getting away. So, we had to shoot him," Cilandak Police chief Adj. Comr. Reinhard Saut told reporters on Tuesday. (ylt)