Three more arrested over Poso killings

POSO, Central Sulawesi (JP): Three more people have been arrested for their roles in the recent sectarian fighting in Poso, bringing the total suspects detained to six.

Poso Police chief Supt. Djasman Baso Opu told The Jakarta Post here on Tuesday that Hery, 52, Alexius, 19, and Rahman, 46, were being interrogated.

"We are still hunting eight more people believed to have been involved in the carnage."

The three suspects arrested earlier are Fabianus Tibo, 57, Dominggus Soares, 37, and Marinus Riwu, 43.

Djasman said that many people had witnessed the six men murdering people.

"Most of the witnesses are women who saw their husbands being killed in front of them. We have at least 20 witnesses," he said.

Djasman did not reveal the events leading up to their arrest nor when it happened.

He said police had identified eight further suspects. "Some of them are former military and police officers. We have been chasing them. They have been moving from one place to another."

Hery, one of those currently being questioned by the police, told the Post in Poso that he objected to being called a "butcher".

"I did take a total of 173 women and children as hostages. I took them to the village of Tambaro, and they stayed there for four days. I don't know what happened to them at the village hall after that."

He said he saw Tibo and Dominggus at the scene.

"It was the commanders, Tibo and Dominggus, who gave me the orders (to take the women and children), but I was not involved in the killing."

Previously, Tibo, Dominggus and Marinus said that a general, identified only by his initial H, was the man behind the killings. They later said they did not mean a military general.

"There were no military or police generals supporting them. What they meant by "the general" was their boss," he said.

Djasman said that several witnesses had confirmed that Tambaro village hall was used as a murder venue, and that dead bodies from it were dumped in a ravine some 20 kilometers away.

Corpses clogged up Poso river, and the smell around the ravine is still unpleasant.

Djasman said what happened in Poso was worse than the bloody aftermath of the attempted coup by the Indonesian Communist Party (PKI) in 1965.

"Women were raped and killed. Children were also targeted. It was inhumane," said Djasman.

Poso was first hit by sectarian violence last year. The latest bloodletting took place on May 23 when Christians and Muslims clashed leaving some 300 people dead and thousands of houses destroyed.

The government and the military have tried to heal the wounds. Two months ago the Wirabuana Military Command deployed some 1,000 troops in a peace mission called Cinta Damai.

And Sulawesi governors met to sign a peace accord, and pledged to help the Central Sulawesi administration rebuild the riot-hit areas.

Commander of the Cinta Damai mission, First Inspector Agussalim said that his men found a large number of dead bodies in a mass grave when his men entered Poso in July. "We expect to find more bodies," he said. (27/sur)