Seven die in predawn attack in Maluku

Seven die in predawn attack in Maluku

The Jakarta Post
Ambon/Jakarta

Seven people, including five police officers, died during a
predawn attack by unidentified gunmen in troubled Maluku province
on Monday.

The attackers hit a Mobile Brigade (Brimob)'s operations
command post in Loki village, Piru district, West Seram regency
at 3 a.m. local time, or 2 a.m. Jakarta time, reportedly using
military standard-issue firearms. An attacker and a civilian were
also killed in the incident.

"We don't know the identity of the attackers yet, only that
they numbered around six people and used automatic weapons,"
Maluku Police spokesman Comr. Endro Prasetyo told The Jakarta
Post on Monday.

The officers killed in the incident were Brig. Roni Susanto,
Brig. Hasanuddin, Brig. Teguh Arif Priyanto, First Brig. Slamet
Haryanto and Chief Brig. Damanik. Five other police officers
based at the post survived. They were part of East Kalimantan
police deployed to Maluku.

A civilian, Simon Petrus Saepali, 23, who worked in the post
as a cook, was also shot dead. Meanwhile, the police have yet to
identify the dead attacker.

"The attackers might have received training as the dead from
Brimob were mostly shot in the head," Endro said.

He said that from his smashed cheekbone, it looked like the
dead attacker had been shot at close range by the other
attackers. "Maybe, they did this to prevent us from tracking them
down. If he had lived, he could have divulged their identities,"
Endro said.

Later on Monday, the bodies of the dead officers were taken to
Bhayangkara Police Hospital in Ambon by boat.

The police also seized weapons and ammunition left behind by
the attackers.

The paramilitary police officers had been based in Loki
village, some 40 kilometers away from the West Seram regental
capital of Piru, for the last five months.

Endro said the attackers reportedly came from the sea by
speedboat, and that the attack appeared to be well planned as the
attackers had concentrated their assault on the police post.

"After conducting the attack, they returned to the beach and
left by speedboat," he said.

The village has no electricity as power infrastructure in the
area was destroyed during the long conflict in the province. "The
gunmen organized their attack in such a way that when the
shooting started, the officers, who were sleeping at the time,
panicked and became easy targets," he said.

The police also suspected that some of the attackers were
injured in the incident after finding blood stains at the
location. "So far, we're still collecting information from local
people," he said.

The chief of the Maluku Police's criminal investigation unit,
Sr. Comr. Bambang Hermanu, said that three witnesses had been
questioned over the incident. They were speedboat driver Libid
and his crew members, Anggato and Rinto.

Pattimura military commander Maj. Gen. Syarifudin Summah told
journalists on Monday that he had deployed a team to Loki to find
who was responsible for the attack, had placed a company of
soldiers in Piri at the disposal of the police.

Separately, National Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Zainuri Lubis
told the Post on Monday that the police had not identified any
connection between the attackers and South Maluku Republic (RMS)
supporters.

"Right now, we're investigating the case to find out who the
attackers were and what was their motive was as all of the Brimob
officers were shot at close range in the head," Zainuri said.

So far, he said, the police could only say that the attackers
were a "group of unidentified persons". "We haven't even
identified the dead attacker found at the crime scene," Zainuri
admitted.

The police, he said, would conduct ballistic tests on the
weapons and ammunition recovered at the scene.