Hotli Simanjuntak and Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh/medan | Wed, 04/14/2010 9:32 AM
A man identified as Enal Tao who was shot dead by the antiterror squad in Aceh on Monday has been linked to terrorist crimes Poso, Central Sulawesi, a police officer says.
Enal was shot in a police ambush in Cot Irie village, Banda Aceh, on Monday. Another four suspects were caught alive.
Former Poso Police chief Sr. Comr. Rudi Sufahriadi, currently North Jakarta Police chief, said Enal had been involved in the murder and mutilation of three female students at SMU Kristen High School in Poso in 2005.
Rudi said Enal had been on the top of the police’s most-wanted list for a spate of terrorist attacks and murders in Poso and Palu, Central Sulawesi, in 2005. He had allegedly fled the province in early 2006.
“When committing the crimes, [Enal] was assisted by a number of accomplices including Hasanuddin, Lilik Purnomo, Irwanto Irano, Wiwin Kalahe, Basri and Agus Nur Muhammad,” Rudi told reporters.
Police had worked with Enal’s former friend Haris, who had allegedly joined him in several terrorist attacks, to help identify the remains.
Haris said he was certain the body was that of Enal.
“He was Enal who was together with me previously in Sulawesi,” Haris said at the Aceh Police headquarters on Tuesday.
Rudi said Enal had long lived in Aceh where he had married a local woman.
Police also believed Enal had harbored terrorist leader Dulmatin, who had assembled the bomb for the Bali bomb attacks, while he was in Aceh several years ago.
“He harbored Dulmatin and combat training participants in the Jalin mountainous region,” said Rudi, adding that Enal had once turned his rented house into a shelter for combat training members before deploying them to Jantho in Aceh Besar.
At his house, police said a meeting was held to arrange attack strategies in Aceh. The two were among six captured in Medan on Sunday.
“Enal was also active in recruiting people to join terrorist training activities in the southern Philippines,” Rudi said.
In Medan, North Sumatra, on Tuesday, the provincial police ordered all forces to step up their security and search for the two remaining suspects who remained at large.
The two, identified as Ali from Aceh and Daud from Bandarlampung, were believed to still be in the province.
