Reinforcements sent to probe Poso attacks

Reinforcements sent to probe Poso attacks

Irvan NR and Abdul Khalik, The Jakarta Post, Palu/Jakarta

The Central Sulawesi provincial police dispatched dozens of
detectives on Monday to the ravaged Poso regency to investigate
recent attacks in two subdistricts here that killed four people.

In a separate development, a home-made bomb was found on Jl.
Pulau Nias in Poso regency, adding to the already tension
situation.

Poso Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Abdi Dharma said that the
detectives had been divided into two teams.

"One team has been deployed to Kilotrans village in Poso
Pesisir district, while another team has been dispatched to
Marowo village in Ulu Bongka district," said Abdi Dharma.

Kilotrans and Marowo are the two subdistricts where the
attacks occurred on Saturday.

The armed attacks killed four people and badly injured four
others. The deaths and injuries were caused by gunfire.

Dharma said that the teams were dispatched to the two
subdistricts on Monday morning in order to help local police
expedite their investigations.

The teams, together with local detectives, then questioned
witnesses and collected evidence in the two subdistricts.

The detectives have so far been able to identify the physical
characteristic of the attackers. However, Dharma refused to go
into details, saying that the police were still investigating the
case.

He acknowledged that police had difficulties in providing
security in Poso due to the limited number of officers available
and the difficult geographic terrain.

Most of Poso was thickly forested, providing perfect cover for
any would-be attackers. They could quickly launch attacks and
then melt back into the jungle, he said.

"We have tightened security in those areas that had been
susceptible to attack, but they simply launched their attacks in
other places," he said on Monday afternoon.

Since the attack on their village on Saturday night, the
residents of Marowo have reportedly been taking refuge to safer
areas. However, Dharma said that he had no information on the
number of residents who had fled their homes.

Despite the arrival of additional detectives, gunfire was
still to be heard on Monday in the Poso Pesisir subdistrict of
Tiwaa, only a few kilometers away from the subdistricts where the
attacks took place on Saturday.

No one was hurt in the latest shooting incident.

Locals immediately reported the incident to the police.

Meanwhile in Jakarta, a police spokesman said that the bomb,
which was found on Jl. Nias, was composed of low explosives.

The bomb was found in the early morning in a ruined building
on Jl. Nias, and was defused by the police bomb squad, said Brig.
Gen. Soenarko, a spokesman for the National Police.

He added that as of Monday, 600 reinforcements from the
police's paramilitary Mobile Brigade, one Bomb Squad unit (20
officers) and one police intelligence unit (20 officers) had been
deployed to Poso.

In addition, a further 700 soldiers have been drafted into the
area.

Poso has been the seen of violence since 1999, when sectarian
clashes between Muslims and Christians first broke out in the
regency. At least 2,000 people have been killed in the bloody
conflict since then. The communal clashes subsided after the
government-sponsored Malino Accord in 2001, but regular attacks
are still occurring in the regency.