Poso blast suspects arrested, linked to Mamasa riot
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.