Provocateurs reported targeting Sumbawa town

DENPASAR, Bali (JP): Following their "success" in igniting sectarian riots in Mataram, Lombok Island, provocateurs are now targeting the town of Dompu in neighboring Sumbawa Island, police claim.

Chief of Dompu Police Subprecinct, Lt. Col. M. Atmaja Wiguna said in a telephone interview that a group of unidentified people had recently tried to provoke racial discord among residents of Dompu.

However their efforts apparently failed to incite unrest.

"The last effort was made on Feb. 10 at the Taropo resettlement unit when three unknown people tortured a transmigrant named Danu, who hailed from Bali," Atmaja said on Wednesday.

Danu found a wounded goat on a roadside at noon, Atmaja said.

"Danu thought the goat didn't belong to anybody and so decided to take the slain animal home. But a Suzuki van with three unidentified men suddenly appeared. The three then stabbed Danu in the head, legs and then rushed off," he said.

Witnesses claimed to have seen the van speeding across the transmigrant complex heading in the direction of another transmigrant complex occupied by people from Bima in Taropo, some 64 kilometers northwest of Dompu.

"There news quickly spread that Bali transmigrants were planning to attack them," said Atmaja.

According to Atmaja, the two groups of transmigrants were soon riled-up to the point that they had formed a mob ready to fight.

"Fortunately police arrived in time and separated them, and briefed them that provocateurs must have tried to instigate a racial clash in Dompu."

Sources said that police have no record of the Suzuki minibus used by the alleged provocateurs.

"That means it must belong to people living outside the regency," the source said. (zen/sur)