Troop reinforcements urged as Italian shot dead in Poso

Tasman Banto and Muhammad Nafik, The Jakarta Post, Palu/Jakarta

A foreign tourist was killed in the renewed violence in Poso since a peace accord ended a prolonged sectarian conflict there last December, prompting a plan to deploy reinforcement troops to the Central Sulawesi town.

Central Sulawesi Police chief Brig. Gen. Zainal Abidin Ishak asked on Friday the Wirabuana Military Command overseeing Sulawesi provinces to deploy one battalion of troops to help the police quell fresh attacks in Poso.

He said his office would also dispatch 200 personnel of the police Mobile Brigade (Brimob) to restore order.

Lorenzo Taddei, a 34-year old Italian citizen, was shot dead at 9 p.m. on Thursday by a group of unidentified armed people who ambushed a public bus at Mayoa village in South Pamona, some 200 kilometers south of Poso.

A 35-year-old traveling companion, Patricia Linossi, was not injured in the attack, while four other passengers, all locals -- Heronimus Banculu, 36, Timohius Kemba, 52, Karangan, 21, and Alberting, 45, sustained shotgun wounds.

They are receiving medical attention at the Pendolo health community center in South Pamona.

A French couple were also among the passengers of the Batutumonga bus. However, they survived unscathed.

Wirabuana Military Commander Maj. Gen. Amirul Isnaini, a former chief of the Army's Special Force (Kopassus), said there were around 50 foreigners staying in Poso on tourist visas for unclear purposes.

He said Kopassus sent at least 12 intelligence officers to investigate the presence of the foreigners.

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu confirmed on Friday that there were indications that foreigners were involved in conflicts in the country's troubled areas, including Poso.

It was not clear, however, whether Lorenzo was one of those.

An official at the Italian Embassy in Jakarta, who declined to be identified, confirmed on Friday the death of Lorenzo. He refused to comment further, arguing: "Not everything is clear yet".

Local police said on Friday that the bus was heading from the popular tourist resort of Tanah Toraja in South Sulawesi province to the Central Sulawesi capital of Palu.

When it arrived in Mayoa, the border area between South and Central Sulawesi, several gunmen suddenly appeared and opened fire at the bus. The attackers fled the scene quickly.

The Italian tourist was found dead in his seat with shotgun wounds in the back.

Lorenzo's body was flown at 2:30 p.m. on Friday from Palu to Jakarta for an autopsy. It will be flown directly to Italy for burial.

Speaking to journalists after leading a ceremony in Palu to mourn the Italian's death, Zainal said the gunmen used automatic weapons in the bus attack.

The provincial police chief confirmed Lorenzo was the first foreign tourist killed in the conflict-wracked town of Poso since 2000.

Separately, Central Sulawesi Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. Agus Sugianto said he could not confirm the number of passengers on the attacked bus.

Zainal and Agus said the police were searching for the gunmen in cooperation with military forces.

It was the fourth attack on passenger buses in Poso since the peace accord was signed by Muslim and Christian leaders in the hill resort of Malino, South Sulawesi, eight months ago.

The first ambush was launched on Feb. 6 on an Omega bus, killing one person and injuring several others.

On June 5, four passengers of an Antariksa bus were killed and 17 others wounded in an ambush also blamed on a group of unidentified people at Toini village in Poso Pisisir subdistrict.

One month later, a similar attack claimed the life of a young woman and severely injured four others at Kawua village, four kilometers from Poso.