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Amid criticism, police try to justify killings
The recent killings of six suspected terrorists on the outskirts of Jakarta have triggered a wave of criticism of the policeâs Densus 88 counterterrorism unit and the alleged âexcessiveâ force it employs
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he recent killings of six suspected terrorists on the outskirts of Jakarta have triggered a wave of criticism of the police's Densus 88 counterterrorism unit and the alleged 'excessive' force it employs.
Officers of the National Police's Densus 88 gunned down six suspected militants in a nine-hour gunfight during a New Year's Eve raid in Kampung Sawah, Ciputat, South Tangerang. The suspects are believed to have carried out a spate of attacks in Greater Jakarta, including the murder of three police officers and a vihara bombing.
Terrorism expert Noor Huda Ismail deplored the excessive level of force demonstrated by the elite squad in the operation.
'If compared to the handling of first Bali bombing [in 2002], the squad was very excessive [in the recent raid]. During the raid on the Bali bombing suspects, no one was killed,' he said in a telephone interview on Thursday.
The National Commission on Human Rights (Komnas HAM) reacted strongly against the fatal raid by launching an investigation and asking National Police chief Gen. Sutarman to clarify the matter.
The Maarif Institute lambasted the police's inability to keep the suspects alive. 'The death of suspected terrorists hampers the judicial and investigation process to track down the terrorist network,' the institute's research director, Ahmad Fuad Fanani, said in a press statement on Thursday.
Jamaah Ansharut Tauhid (JAT), an Islamic organization led by firebrand cleric Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, condemned what it termed 'an extrajudicial killing' carried out by Densus 88, saying that the six slain men were 'Muslims who had not yet been proven guilty'.
Sutarman reassured on Thursday that the US-funded squad had carried out the operation in line with human rights principles and applicable regulations.
'The police will never gun down anyone who does not pose a threat to officers. We must act in line with the law. We called for them to surrender, but instead they threw explosives at us,' he said while visiting a Densus 88 officer who was injured during the Ciputat shoot-out, in a hospital in Jakarta.
The raid is the latest human rights abuse allegation aimed at Densus 88. In March last year, Muslim groups called for the disbandment of the squad following the spreading of video footage depicting Densus 88 officers intimidating and torturing suspected terrorists.
Following the New Year's Eve raid, police found indications that the six men had planned attacks on last year's Christmas and New Year celebrations.
'The targets included churches and worship places that were being used on the night of New Year's Eve, including vihara,' Sutarman said.
At the crime scene, the police confiscated six pipe bombs, six handguns, five machetes and knives, bomb-making materials and a sheet of paper listing around 50 vihara.
National Police spokesperson Brig. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar said six suspects ' believed to be loyalists of Abu Roban, the slain leader of the West Mujahidin Indonesia group ' had prepared suicide attacks on at least two vihara in Jakarta.
'In the document, two names of vihara have been marked,' Boy said at National Police headquarters in Jakarta.
Sutarman added one of the slain suspects, Nurul Haq, had planned to fight in Syria after completing attacks on New Year celebrations.
'A document shows Nurul Haq planned to wage jihad in Syria as a suicide bomber. He was preparing to make a passport,' he said.
To finance their plans, the group stole Rp 300 million (US$24,671) from a Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) branch in Panongan, Tangerang, on Dec. 24, 2013.
The group intended to provide some of the cash to support paramilitary training in Poso, Central Sulawesi, led by Santoso, the country's most wanted fugitive and the East Mujahidin Indonesia leader.
Following the raid in Kampung Sawah, on Wednesday afternoon Densus 88 searched a house in Rempoa, Ciputat, where the slain suspects kept their explosives.
On the same day, police also detained Sadullah Rojak, an employee of a private company, in Sukaraja, Bogor, on the outskirts of Jakarta. From him, the police confiscated an airsoft gun, a pen gun, half a bag of fertilizer and a bucket containing white powder.
