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.
TNI chief admits procedure failure in accidental death of soldier
Change Size
Soldiers prepare to continue Operation Tinombala in Poso, Central Sulawesi, on April 6. Operation Tinombala, involving 3,500 police and military personnel, was launched in January to capture Indonesia's most wanted terrorist Santoso and his East Indonesia Mujahidin radical group hiding in the mountainous area of Poso. (thejakartapost.com/Ruslan Sangadji)
T
he accidental death of a soldier during Operation Tinombala in Poso, Central Sulawesi, was a result of procedure failure resulting a pure accident, Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Gatot Nurmantyo said on Thursday.
The soldier, Second Sgt. Muhammad Ilman, was a member of the Sandi Yudha Intelligence Task Force that received information regarding stockpiles of weapons buried underground that were thought to belong to the East Indonesia Mujahidin (MIT) group.
As he and six other soldiers were digging to unearth the weapons, the National Police's Bravo task force received information about unidentified people in the area. A Bravo task force officer mistakenly presumed that Ilman was an MIT member and shot him, Gatot said.
"I want to assert that there was no exchange of fire, since the intelligence team know the Bravo task force members are their comrades," he told journalists on Thursday, stressing that it was an accidental shooting while also denying reports that there was an exchange of fire.
He further called for TNI members not to be provoked by the accidental death, since the Bravo and Sandi Yudha task forces were doing their best to ensure the success of Operation Tinombala. The TNI is waiting for the results of the investigation following the deployment of an investigative team.
The military and the National Police have joined forces to hunt down Islamic State-linked MIT militants in Poso in a massive counterterrorism operation code-named Operation Tinombala, which involves more than 3,000 personnel since January. The personnel are closing in on the terrorist group members operating in the mountainous forest of Poso.
Despite tension that has often erupted between the two institutions, the two forces recently demonstrated their ability to cooperate by hunting down and killing MIT leader Santoso, aka Abu Wardah. It is believed that his demise will demoralize and weaken the remaining MIT militants still hiding deep in the mountainous area of Poso. (rin)
