Two bomb squad officers burned alive in Bekasi

JAKARTA (JP): Two Gegana bomb squad members from the National Police Mobile Brigade (Brimob) unit were brutally beaten and set on fire on Saturday evening by at least 500 local residents from Karang Sambung Nagasari village, Serang, in Bekasi.

National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Erald Dotulong identified the victims on Sunday as Idad Muzadad, 23, and Agus Gunawan, 21. The two men held the lowest rank in the squad.

"I am not very clear why these men were killed, but the incident did happen," Erald told The Jakarta Post over the phone.

According to his subordinate, Col. Saleh Saaf, the two officers were initially involved in a fight with an ojek (motorcycle taxi) driver in which they were attacked. A mob subsequently set fire to the two men.

"The officers fired warning shots, but the local residents did not care," Saleh said.

According to an eyewitness, Idad and Agus had initially taken two ojek, driven by Emis and Ivar bin Iteng, from the Serang market.

"The two officers asked to be driven to Nagasari village. When they reached the area, they told Emis and Ivar to stop," the eyewitness said.

"One of the officers took out a Rp 50,000 (US$7.15) note, and literally barked at Emis and Ivar because both of them did not have any small change.

"The two officers then told Emis to find some small change. When Emis left, seeing Ivar alone, the officers brandished their guns and demanded Ivar hand them the keys to both motorcycles.

"Ivar was shocked. He was very scared and quietly removed the ignition key from his motorcycle."

The eyewitness said Ivar screamed for help and quickly drew the attention of local residents playing volleyball near the scene, Ivar quickly screamed for help.

The eyewitness said one of the officers then fired at least five warning shots into the air and then found he had no bullets left.

He said it was at this point that the residents took the law into their own hands, attacking them and setting them on fire.

Following the incident, local ojek drivers decided that as a result of the high frequency of attacks against ojek drivers, they would take up measures to take care of each other, the eyewitness said. (ylt)