Three Poso gunmen killed, two more captured
Three Poso gunmen killed, two more captured
La Remmy, The Jakarta Post, Palu, Central Sulawesi
A joint police and military force killed three gunmen and
captured two other suspects in the killing of at least 13 people
in recent attacks in Poso regency, Central Sulawesi, police said
on Saturday.
The two arrests on Saturday brought the number of suspects
being detained to seven.
Central Sulawesi Police chief Brig. Gen. Taufik Ridha, who was
in Poso on Saturday, identified the two men who were most
recently arrested as Aco, 27, and Andang, 23.
He said the two were currently being held at the Beteleme
Police station in the neighboring regency of Morowali, along with
the five suspects arrested on Friday after a shoot-out.
The suspects are being interrogated by a team from the
National Police Headquarters that includes Brig. Gen. Dibyo
Widodo and Brig. Gen. Aribianto, Taufik said.
He said that during Friday's firefight in a forest near
Bintangor village -- some 40 kilometers from Beteleme, the police
and soldiers killed three suspects.
The bodies of Ari, 25, Ali Lasawedi, 31, and Saddam, 30, were
flown on Saturday by helicopter to Poso General Hospital.
The five men arrested following the firefight were identified
as Ishak, 39, Ardianto, 21, Habit, alias Arief, 22, Hasyim, 25,
Aswan, 36, and Andang, 23.
Taufik said two of the gunmen -- Saddam and Habit -- hailed
from Lamongan regency in East Java province.
Lamongan is the hometown of Amrozi, Ali Imron and Ali Ghufron,
alias Muchlas, who were sentenced either to death or life in
prison for their roles in the Bali bombings that killed 202
people.
"The remaining detainees are local residents from the
subdistricts of Poso Kota and Ampana. They are all Muslims,"
Taufik said.
The provincial police chief said he would announce the details
of the suspects' identities and associations once investigators
found sufficient evidence to charge them.
Masked gunmen descended on three coastal villages in the
religiously divided town of Poso on Oct. 12, killing nine people,
mostly Christians.
Two days earlier, attackers killed three people and burned
down 30 homes in Beteleme, a mainly Christian village. Another
man was found dead in Poso last Thursday after having been
reported missing after the Oct. 12 predawn raid.
The attacks have raised fear of a major flare-up in fighting
between Muslims and Christians in Poso, where about 2,000 people
have been killed in religious violence since 2000.
Top security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who visited
Poso after this fresh spasm of violence, and other government
officials have said well trained outsiders may be to blame for
the latest attacks.
Police and soldiers continue to hunting the mysterious gunmen,
who are thought to be hiding in the jungle around Poso and
Morowali.
Meanwhile, there are rumors that unidentified gunmen will
attack the village of Tabalo in Poso Pesisir subdistrict. In
response to the rumors, security forces have sent three trucks of
personnel to the village.
Subandi, a resident of Poso, said the tension had increased
with the arrival of the bodies of the three killed gunmen at the
general hospital.