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Killed terrorists in Poso used stolen car: police
Police officers guard the forensics room at the Bhayangkara Hospital in Palu, Central Sulawesi, on Wednesday, where forensic officers conducted an autopsy on the dead bodies of two suspected terrorists
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span class="inline inline-center">Police officers guard the forensics room at the Bhayangkara Hospital in Palu, Central Sulawesi, on Wednesday, where forensic officers conducted an autopsy on the dead bodies of two suspected terrorists. The two men died on Tuesday morning in a shootout with authorities in Sanginora Village in Poso Pesisir Selatan subdistrict. (Antara/Basri Marzuki)
The police suspect that a pick-up car used by armed men in a shootout with the police in Poso, Central Sulawesi, on Tuesday, was a stolen car, a police officer has said.
The Isuzu Panther pick-up used by the two men killed in the shootout belonged to a local resident initialed S, Operation Tinombala commander Sr. Corm. Leo Bona Lubis said on Wednesday.
"The owner used the car to take sand," Leo, who is also the deputy chief of Central Sulawesi Police, told journalists at the headquarters of the Central Sulawesi Police.
The car was taken by the two armed men when the owner was taking sand from one of the rivers in Poso Pesisir Selatan subdistrict, he said.
The two alleged terrorists and Brig. Wahyudi, a member of the police's Mobile Brigade (Brimob), died during a shootout in Sanginora village in Poso Pesisir Selatan subdistrict on Tuesday morning.
The police have not yet fully identified the deceased suspects, thought to be members of the East Indonesia Mujahidin terrorist group, led by Indonesia's most wanted terrorist, Santoso, alias Abu Wardah, who runs his terror network from inside the forests around Poso.
The police have only established a preliminary identification on one of the armed men, based on the man's physical features and information gleaned from locals reporting on a missing family member. Still, the man's identity could not be confirmed as yet because investigators still needed to run some DNA checks and an antemortem inspection, Leo said.
The police have discovered that the two men worked as active couriers for Santoso's group with the task of supplying logistics such as homemade bombs, firearms, bullets and food.
They had hoped to transfer goods to the group in the pick-up truck when the authorities raided and stopped the car on Tuesday.
From an investigation at the crime scene, the police found 12 homemade grenades, one FN pistol, three 99 millimeter bullets, one firearm magazine, one camouflage chest rig, five sacks of rice, one package of instant noodles and one flashlight in the Isuzu Panther pick-up truck. (rin)(+)
