Poso tense as six killed in Christian village

La Remy and Muhammad Nafik, The Jakarta Post, Palu/Jakarta

Tensions engulfed the violence-torn town of Poso in Central Sulawesi on Tuesday after at least six people were killed and hundreds of houses and two churches set ablaze in fresh attacks on three Christian villages, just hours after a second round of peace talks ended.

It clearly proves that the two-day meeting of Muslim and Christian delegates, which ended on Monday to seek peace in Poso, was eminently ineffective to quell the violence.

The road to long-lasting peace there appears to have gotten longer as armed assailants, believed to being carrying automatic guns, roam the area with impunity, and security authorities claim to know nothing of their identity or whereabouts.

Following the latest violence, many shops there closed and local government officials chose to stay at home.

Hundreds of heavily armed police and troops were deployed to the three attacked villages of Sepe, Silanca and Batu Gencu in Lage subdistrict after reports of the attacks.

The villages, also home to some 1,000 refugees from other areas in Poso, are located around 12 kilometers east of the town.

Security authorities in Poso warned locals against being provoked by irresponsible people as residents in Kanyamanya and Lawanga villages were on guard outside their houses to prevent possible attacks.

Five of those killed in Tuesday's violence were identified as Y. Ombitaka, 60, Eipius Montorutu, 24, Ndolu Sulelino, 31, Sena Kangea, 32 and Efrata Lagani, 35. All were killed by gunshot wounds.

At least two other persons were seriously wounded in the incidents.

Another person, named as Cikia from Malei village also in Lage, was found dead with gunshot wounds on Tuesday and another man, Dolelia from the same village, was declared missing and was feared dead.

Local church officials and security officers said the attackers were an armed group of unidentified people, who stormed Sepe, Silanca and Batu Gencu early on Tuesday.

Noldy Tacoh, a secretary with the Crisis Center belonging to the Central Sulawesi church, however, blamed the attack on police Mobile Brigade troops and said two churches were also burned in Silanca.

He said a group of 17 Brimob personnel were responsible for the attack on Batu Gencu.

The police stormed the village through the neighboring village of Toyado to seek their fellow Brimob member, Pvt. Andi Amir, who was reportedly abducted by local residents, Noldy added.

Central Sulawesi Police chief Brig. Gen. Zainal Abidin Ishak, who visited Poso, denied that his personnel were involved in the attack.

Yet, he confirmed a number of Brimob members went through Toyado to search for Amir, who had not been seen since Sunday. Apparently, they were unable to locate the missing private.

Adj. Sr. Comr. Agus Sugianto, spokesman for the provincial police, said Batu Gencu was attacked by gunmen after local villagers rejected a deployment of security forces there.

"As of late Tuesday evening, villagers in Batu Gencu were refusing to allow the deployment of security personnel and were blocking all roads leading to the village. To avoid a clash with these residents, they were pulled back to Poso," he told The Jakarta Post.

Zainal admitted that the police could not yet identify the gunmen who launched the attacks.

He said around 3,100 reinforcement personnel from police and military have been deployed across Poso to help quell the renewed unrest.

"But we still want one more battalion of troops and two companies of police stationed here," he said.

Both Muslim and Christian delegations, who concluded the second round of peace talks on Monday, vowed to work together along with police and military forces to help restore peace.

The talks, held in the provincial capital of Palu, also agreed to declare those involved in violence as their "common enemies".

However, they failed to identify or reveal the masterminds or perpetrators behind the spate of recent attacks, mostly launched against Christians, to yield progressive measures to stop the violence.

The delegates had convened their first round of peace talks last December in the South Sulawesi hill resort of Malino, which appeared to be effective for a few months to stop the sectarian fighting.

Meanwhile, CNN reported on Tuesday that an Indonesian intelligence source had confirmed the presence of an al-Qaeda- linked training camp in Sulawesi.