Poso blast suspects arrested, linked to Mamasa riot

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Central Sulawesi Police have confirmed that three suspects arrested recently in connection with two Poso bomb attacks were also on the police wanted list for allegedly sparking an April 24 riot in Mamasa, West Sulawesi.

Police chief Brig. Gen. Aryanto Sutadi said on Wednesday his men had arrested three men, Suryadi, Saifullah and Sucipto, upon the request of the South Sulawesi Police for their alleged roles in the Mamasa riot.

"We confirmed their status after an intensive joint investigation with the South Sulawesi Police," Aryanto was quoted as saying by Antara.

The suspects were arrested in Pandajaya village, Poso. Another suspect, identified as Sofa or Izarudin, remains at large.

At least four people were killed when an armed group attacked Ranu subdistrict, Mamasa, in the newly established West Sulawesi province. The South Sulawesi Police are currently overseeing the police in the new province.

Amiruddin, a suspect in the Mamasa riot who was arrested soon after the rampage, led the police to the three men.

Poso, a region still licking its wounds from the bloody sectarian conflict that occurred between 1999 and 2001, was rocked by two small bombs in two separate locations on Thursday last week. There were no injuries reported.

The first blast occurred at about 7:50 p.m., damaging the non- governmental offices for the Center for Conflict Resolution and Peace, while the second bomb was detonated two hours later, causing damage to the offices of another activist group, the Institute for the Empowerment of Civil Society.

Aryanto denied speculation one of the suspects was also involved in the bomb attack on the JW Marriott Hotel in Jakarta in August 2003.

"So far there is no evidence that connects any of the suspects with international terrorist groups," Aryanto said.

Separately, National Police detectives chief Comr. Gen. Suyitno Landung said a special team dispatched to Central and South Sulawesi had found proof that one of the three suspects arrested was directly linked to the Mamasa riot. He would not identify that person.

He said homemade bombs found in the suspects' hideout were explosives of the same type that went off in Poso.

"Those bombs contain explosives commonly used by fishermen to catch fish," Suyitno said.

Police were studying the possibility that the group which instigated the Mamasa riot was linked to other violent incidents in Poso during the past few months, he said.