Survivors of a counterterrorism police squad ambushed by militants last week pressed on with their village-by-village search Sunday for members of a suspected new terrorist cell in the western Indonesian province of Aceh.
Since raiding a militant training camp on Feb. 22, police say they have arrested 16 suspected members of a group believed linked to Jemaah Islamiyah, a Southeast Asian offshoot of al-Qaida blamed for deadly bombings in Indonesia in recent years.
But most of the militantsare believed to still be in the wilds of southern Aceh Besar district near the training camp, said counterterrorism squad leader Sgt. Abdi, who like many Indonesians goes by a single name.
"They are really dangerous, so we must catch them dead or alive," Abdi told The Associated Press in the village of Ioh Tunong where his men, wearing body armor and armed with assault rifles, questioned residents and searched rice paddies and forest fringes for clues of militants.
Last Thursday, two dozen militants ambushed Abdi's 30-member team as it made a similar search in the village of Lamkabeue less than two miles(three kilometers) to the west. They suspect the militants were tipped off about the team's movements.
"The terrorists suddenly attacked us from 300 meters (330 yards), but we couldn't see them at all at that time because they were hidden in tall forest grass," Abdi said.
He said three of his men die and 11 others were wounded. The body of one militant was discovered in the jungle on Saturday, but police believe at least two others were wounded and carried away by their comrades.
About 20 members of Abdi's team remain on duty, as police intensify their search. Police have set up checkpoints every few miles (kilometers) in Aceh Besar.
Two suspects have been arrested since Friday and are being held in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, but have not been charged.
One of them, a 36-year-old man from the main Indonesian island of Java, was caught on a bus outside Aceh Besar, said Banda Aceh plice chief Lt. Col. Haryanta. He declined to give details about the other suspect.
On Saturday, a group calling itself "al-Qaida in Aceh" posted a statement on the Internet claiming it was the target of the police crackdown but would continue its jihad against "Zionist Jews and Christians and apostates"
It was not possible to authenticate the statement, which is under police investigation.
Aceh was thought to be free of organized militants since a violent separatist movement ended 2005 with a government agreement to make the province semiautonomous. Officials suspect the new Islamic militant grouhas taken advantage of reduced security to set up base here.
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