Police have killed two terror suspects and arrested eight others in the latest raid in Aceh, in which the link between two key terror cells was also uncovered.
Friday’s raid took place near Leupung village in Aceh Besar regency, just outside the provincial capital Banda Aceh, where police engaged the 10 suspects while they were in a bus on the main road to Meulaboh.
A 30-minute gunfight ensued in which two suspects were killed attempting to flee.
They were later identified as Encang Kurnia from Lampung and Pura Sudarma from Bandung, West Java. The two had long been on the police’s wanted list for a spate of offenses, including illegal weapons possession.
Encang was believed to be a key figure linking the terrorist cells in Aceh and Pamulang, Banten province, and helping build a terror base.
“We were tipped off about their movements by members of the public,” Aceh Police chief Aditya Warman said Friday.
“They were suspicious of this group of individuals traveling to Meulaboh in a public vehicle.”
He added police had shot Encang and Pura after the two had initially opened fire.
“These are the terrorists we’ve been hunting for all this time,” Aditya said.
“They were among the terrorists who exchanged fire with police in Lamkabeu [also in Aceh Besar].”
One of the suspects had a gunshot wound to the hand, believed to have been sustained during the previous raid in Lamkabeu, he added.
Aditya said the intensified series of raids over the past fortnight had helped flush out the suspects.
“They were cornered by the raids we held in various places in eastern Aceh,” he said.
Police seized several weapons from the suspects, including three M16 and two AK-47 automatic rifles, a handgun, 25 ammunition magazines and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.
The handgun is believed to have been stolen from Boas Woisiri, a member of the police’s Detachment 88 counterterrorism unit killed in an earlier raid in Meunasah Tenong.
Police also seized Rp 15 million (US$1,600) in cash from the suspects.
The eight men taken into custody have been identified as Ura Sudarman, Badru, Yunus, Gemang, Taufik, Hendra Ali, Ibnu Sina and Abu Baro.
“None of them are natives of Aceh, they’re all outsiders,” Aditya said.
National Police chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri called Friday’s bust a success.
An anonymous source within the police force told The Jakarta Post that Encang and Pura had been trained by high-profile terror suspect Dulmatin, who was himself killed in a raid Tuesday in Pamulang.
“These men would have played strategic roles in the terror cell’s next attacks,” the source said.
Friday’s bust was part of a wider police crackdown on remnants of a larger group of suspected militants who had trained in Jantho, Aceh Besar, since February.
Authorities have arrested 30 and killed six suspected militants in the crackdown. The suspects are currently being held at the police Mobile Brigade’s jail in Depok, just south of Jakarta, for questioning.
An estimated 30 others remain at large, say police.
Aditya said the authorities had “restored order” in Lamkabeu village after almost two weeks of heightened security measures.
He added a 24-hour curfew in the area had been lifted and local residents, mostly farmers, could return to their fields, left untended during the recent harvest season.
