Two killed, one injured in attacks on Lampung villages

Oyos Saroso H.N., The Jakarta Post, Menggala, Lampung

Two men were killed and one man was seriously injured when gunmen launched a three-day attack on the inhabitants of almost a dozen villages in Lampung.

Mindi, 34, died instantly on Tuesday while Made Warse, 45, died several hours after arriving for treatment at Abdul Muluk General Hospital in Bandar Lampung. Both were residents of Wirabangun village in Tulangbawang.

Dozens of residents from the neighboring regency of Ogan Kemring Ilir in South Sumatra launched an armed attack on Sunday night on 11 villages in Simpangpematang subdistrict, Tulangbawang. The attack ended on Tuesday.

The attackers, armed with homemade rifles, set dozens of homes on fire and attacked the residents. More than 200 families were displaced as they fled in panic to neighboring villages.

Sukardi, a resident of another village, is listed in critical condition with multiple injuries at the hospital.

The situation remained tense in the village on Wednesday and hundreds of villagers were on alert as rumors circulated that the perpetrators were regrouping for another attack.

The local police have questioned five eyewitnesses, but no one has been arrested yet.

Adj. Sr. Comr. Purwanto, the chief of the police precinct in Tulangbawang, said that the attack could have been in retaliation for the murder of a resident of a nearby village the day before.

"A resident of Pematangpanggang was killed for stealing a goat belonging to someone from Simpangpematang," he said, adding that he would work with the police in Pematangpanggang to find and arrest those responsible for the attack.

Hadi Sunarto, the head of Simpangpematang village, agreed with Purwanto and said that four others had escaped when they were caught stealing the goat.

"I regret that they took the law into their own hands (by killing the alleged thief) and that the residents of Pematangpanggang were also unable to control their emotions, which resulted in the bloody attack," he said.

However, he said that relatives showed no anger over the killing of the alleged thief when the residents of Simpangpematang, mostly transmigrants from Java and Bali, handed the body over to them.

Clashes between villages happen frequently in Lampung. The last one was in 2000 when hundreds of homes in Kampung Bali in another regency were destroyed during a clash with an indigenous tribe.

Brig. Gen. Sugiri, the chief of the Lampung Provincial Police, said that he had sent additional personnel to Tulangbawang to restore law and order to the regency.