TheJakartaPost
Please Update your browser
Your browser is out of date, and may not be compatible with our website. A list of the most popular web browsers can be found below.
Just click on the icons to get to the download page.
Military vows to crush terrorist network
The Indonesian Military (TNI) vowed Sunday to crush a terrorist network that it says undermined the state with attacks such as the storming of a police station in North Sumatra last week
Change Size
T
he Indonesian Military (TNI) vowed Sunday to crush a terrorist network that it says undermined the state with attacks such as the storming of a police station in North Sumatra last week.
TNI chief Gen. Djoko Santoso said the attack on the Hamparan Perak police station was an attack on the state and that the perpetrators of the extraordinary crime would be quashed. “What they did the other day was an attack on the police force of the republic. That means it was a threat to the existence of the state,” Djoko told journalists when attending a sports event at the National Monument in Jakarta.
Djoko’s statement was the first since National Police chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri said Friday last week that the police would involve the military in its fight against terrorism. On Saturday, Djoko said he had not yet received the police’s request.
The TNI and the police have stepped up their vigilance following a recent flurry of cases of terrorism and robberies believed to be linked to the funding of radical organizations seeking to turn Indonesia into an Islamic state.
Three policemen were killed in the attack on Hamparan Perak, which happened a few days after the police busted a gang of thieves that had robbed a bank in Medan.
On Saturday, police in Padang, West Sumatra, shot dead three gunmen who had allegedly robbed ATMs in Padang.
The authorities have been puzzled as to how the gang obtained their sophisticated weapons, including AK47 and M16 assault rifles.
Djoko said it was possible the guns were obtained on the international black market. Police believe the weapons may have been obtained from restive regions such as Mindanao in the southern Philippines, southern Thailand and Aceh province, which saw decades of armed rebellion before a peace accord was signed in 2005.
The National Police allege that the brazen armed robberies were part of fund raising for terrorism.
Islamic fanatics believe that stealing from “infidels” and enemies of Islam is justifiable.
Padang police spokesman Adj. Snr. Comr. Agus B. Kawedar said that the authorities were still investigating the possibility that the ATM robbery on Bung Hatta University premises on Saturday involved members of the terror network that attacked Hamparan Perak police station.
“So far, questioning sessions with the arrested gang members suggest that it was an ordinary robbery.”
As of Sunday, the police had arrested seven of the 15 who allegedly looted Bank Nagari, Bank Bukopin and Bank BNI ATMs. Wearing masks, they overpowered three security guards in the early hours of Saturday and fled with more than Rp 300 million, police said.
Meanwhile, in Banda Aceh, relatives of preacher Khairul Ghozali have denied allegations of terrorism made by the Special Detachment 88 antiterror squad, who arrested him. They said it was a police conspiracy to discredit him.
Khairul was arrested by Detachment 88 in Tanjung Balai, North Sumatra, in the wake of the CIMB Niaga robbery, in which a police officer was killed. Besides arresting Khairul, the police also shot dead two people identified as his accomplices for resisting arrest.
“Detachment 88 was lying when they told the public that Khairul resisted when surrounded by police who would arrest him,” said his wife, Kartini Panggabean.
