(Illustration: Kompas
(Illustration: Kompas.com/Mansur)
An operation to hunt down the Santoso terrorist group has taken the life of a soldier from the 712 Raider infantry battalion, who was killed in an ambush on Sunday morning in Poso, Central Sulawesi.
The attacker, allegedly a member of the terrorist group, ambushed the soldier in Maranda village in Poso Pesisir district and fled after shooting him dead.
Soldiers have been deployed to hunt down the attacker, kompas.com reported, quoting sources.
Wirabuana Makassar Command chief Maj. Gen. Agus Surya Bhakti has yet to make a formal statement.
"Sorry, the commander has just returned from the location. He needs some rest," a member of the Army told waiting journalists.
Kompas.com reported that based on the helmet and the uniform, the fallen soldier had been identified as Sgt. Zaenudin, a member of the Bravo15 unit.
It is the first gunfight casualty the Army has suffered in the operation to hunt down the Santoso terrorist group. On Oct. 15, five soldiers died not in combat but in an accident involving a military truck. The truck, transporting the soldiers, overturned in a mountainous region in Sulawesi.
Codenamed Operasi Camar Maleo IV (Operation Seagull and Maleo Bird), the Army and the National Police have deployed thousands of personnel to Sulawesi to hunt down the Santoso group, which reportedly killed three civilians in September. (ags)
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