Unknown attackers kill 2 students

JAKARTA (JP): Two students were killed in two separate fights on Saturday. A student from a technical senior high was stabbed to death by three unidentified students in Central Jakarta and a private university student was fatally assaulted by two men in East Jakarta.

Senen Police subprecinct chief, Maj. M. Said, said that 16- year-old Kiswanto, a student from the STMN 1 state-owned technical high school, was mobbed by three students while on a bus going along Jl. Pasar Senen in Central Jakarta.

"One of the assailants stabbed the victim in the chest with a machete and they escaped when the bus stopped in front of the Senen market," Said said.

Eko, a friend of Kiswanto who was also in the bus, took the victim to Gatot Subroto Army hospital. Kiswanto died an hour after receiving treatment at the hospital, the police officer said.

The killers are still at large, he added.

Police suspect that the murder was committed by students of another technical high school on Jl. Poncol in Central Jakarta because students of STMN 1 had once been involved in a mass brawl with their counterparts from that school.

Kiswanto's father, Ngamidi, said that he had planned to accompany his son to collect his report card from school.

"But he refused to be accompanied by me, saying he would get it by himself," the father of four children told reporters at the Cipto Mangunkusumo General Hospital's morgue.

Separately, Agus Susilo, a Borobudur University student, was fatally stabbed by one of two attackers in his rented house on Jl. Pangeran Cipinang, East Jakarta.

A police sergeant at the East Jakarta Police precinct said that Agus, 24, sustained four stab wounds in the chest.

According to the officer, the two assailants immediately fled the scene when the victim shouted for help.

One of them, identified as Adrianto, was caught by residents of the area and was handed over to the Makasar Police subprecinct, he said.

The other suspect is still at large, he added.

"The police are still investigating the motive behind the attack," he said.

Four students were killed in separate brawls in the city last month. At least 12 students have been killed in various brawls during the first six months of this year. (jun)