Two bomb squad officers burned alive in Bekasi

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)