T

he National Police have welcomed the government'€™s decision to add Army Special Forces (Kopassus) reinforcements to the existing 2,500 joint personnel involved in Operation Tinombala, which aims to hunt down terrorist leader Santoso alias Abu Wardah in Central Sulawesi.

'€œIf necessary, personnel should be added or replaced,'€ National Police chief Gen. Badrodin Haiti told reporters on the sidelines of an event at police headquarters on Thursday.

Operation Tinombala currently comprises 2,500 personnel from the police and military (TNI), including Kopassus and the Raiders. The operation, beginning on Jan. 10 and ending on Mar. 9, has been extended to May 10, as the team has as yet failed to apprehend the main target, Santoso.

Santoso has been a fugitive for more than five years. He is the leader of the East Indonesia Mujahidin (MIT) and is known for his propagation of violent jihad against Christians and the police.

On Wednesday, Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Luhut Pandjaitan told the media that he would send more Kopassus members to join the operation in Poso, Central Sulawesi.

'€œStarting next week, we'€™ll begin sending additional Kopassus personnel to the operation,'€ Luhut said during a field visit to provincial capital Palu as quoted by local media.

On Thursday, the police also dismissed Central Sulawesi Police chief Brig. Gen. Idham Azis, replacing him with Brig. Gen. Rudy Sufahriadi, a former member of the Densus 88 counterterrorism unit, which has previously worked in Poso.

Rudy said he did not plan to overhaul the operation'€™s strategy, but would lead from the front.

'€œI don'€™t plan to change strategy. I shall lead the hunt for Santoso in person. I won'€™t stay in Palu '€” I'€™ll lead [the operation] wherever [Santoso] is,'€ he told reporters.

The province'€™s mountainous, forested geography, he noted, rendered the operation difficult.

While the joint force has yet to arrest Santoso, it has succeeded in cornering the group of armed civilians, forcing them to move to Central Lore from the Mount Biru and coastal Poso areas.

In addition, Operational Tinombala personnel have shot dead one MIT partisan and split the group in two; with other members having reportedly abandoned the group, it now numbers between 15 and 30 members, from an initial 45. Two members are reportedly Uighurs from western China, while three others are women from Bima, West Nusa Tenggara.

Terrorism expert Al Chaidar lauded the government move to boost the team, with the MIT reportedly having appealed to some 120 sympathizers in Bima in West Nusa Tenggara to join the soi-disant jihad.

'€œThough they'€™re few in number, they'€™re agile, as they'€™ve been living in the forest for years, learning how to dig caves and other survival skills. They can hide in the jungle canopy and create secret caves all over the place,'€ Chaidar said over the phone.

Santoso first learned jungle survival skills in Mindanao, the Philippines, in the 1980s, during his time as a follower of the Jamaah Islamiyah (JI), group cofounded by terrorist convict Abu Bakar Ba'€™asyir, who is now serving 15 years in prison for organizing terrorist training camps. Santoso broke away to form his own group in 2007.

Chaidar was optimistic that reinforcements from Kopassus would help the team work more effectively, bolstering its previous achievements in tracking and cornering the group and shooting dead one member.

'€œWhat'€™s vital is that we have to move faster than them,'€ he concluded.
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