Two Poso men released, no link to terror bomb found
Two Poso men released, no link to terror bomb found
Ruslan Sangadji, The Jakarta Post, Palu
The two men arrested on suspicion of involvement in the Pasar
Sentral bomb attack in Poso, Central Sulawesi on Nov. 13 were
released on Friday night as police investigators cited a lack of
evidence to link them with the fatal attack.
Poso police chief Adj. Comr. Abdi Dharma Sitepu told The
Jakarta Post on Saturday evening that the two, identified only by
their initials, N, 26, and K, 24, were released at around 11 p.m.
Friday evening.
Central Sulawesi police chief Brig. Gen. Aryanto Sutadi,
however, said on Saturday evening that he was not aware of the
release of the two.
"I have no knowledge about the latest developments of (their
investigation)," Aryanto told Antara.
At least six persons were killed and three others injured when
a bomb exploded in a public minivan near Poso's Pasar Sentral
last Saturday, less than two weeks after a minibus driver was
shot dead and a Christian village chief was beheaded.
Poso police arrested N and K at their homes in Poso Kota
district without any resistance early on Friday morning. They
also said that they were still searching for another possible
suspect identified as "I".
N is the son of a former legislator, and his parents had
insisted that N, a university student, was sleeping when the bomb
exploded.
Meanwhile, police in Central Sulawesi began on Saturday a
massive search for firearms and explosives in Palu, Donggala
and Poso.
With rifles at the ready, police searched every house and
stopped motorists in the three areas, where intermittent
religious conflicts have killed thousands of civilians since
2000.
According to Antara the raids were conducted by joint teams of
police and intelligence agents, with backing from 400 Army
soldiers.
"This is a preventive effort to reduce the violence in the
province as ... religious violence continues to claim innocent
lives," Central Sulawesi police spokesman Adj. Comr. Sr. Rais
Adam was quoted by Antara as saying.
He said police set no deadline to end random raids for arms
and explosives across the province.
"We have called on the people repeatedly to give up their
weapons, so we will not hesitate to punish them if they still
have weapons," Rais said.