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North Sumatra police attacker spent six months in Syria: Police
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An image grab taken from a propaganda video released on March 17, 2014 by the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS)'s al-Furqan Media allegedly shows ISIS fighters raising their weapons as they stand on a vehicle mounted with the trademark Jihadists flag at an undisclosed location in the Anbar province. (AFP/File)
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ne of the two suspected attackers in the recent fatal stabbing of a North Sumatra Police officer has reportedly spent six months in war-torn Syria.
If confirmed, this would mark the first time an Indonesian returning from Syria is known to have carried out an attack in Indonesia, which has seen hundreds of its citizens travel to areas of Syria controlled by the Islamic State (IS) group.
North Sumatra Police spokesperson Sr. Comr. Rina Sari Ginting said the attacker, identified as SP, had spent six months in Syria in 2013, a year before IS announced the establishment of the now shrinking caliphate.
“One of the suspects, SP, went to Syria for six months and returned to Indonesia,” Rina said, as quoted by Kompas.com on Monday.
Rina said police were still investigating whether SP had joined IS during his time in Syria, though they had concluded that he was a member of IS-linked terrorist group Jamaah Ansharut Daulah (JAD).
The two attackers, SP and AR, snuck into a checkpoint post, stabbed to death a resting police officer and wounded another officer on Sunday.
Cries for help attracted the attention of several mobile brigade (Brimob) personnel, who then chased the alleged terrorists, shooting AR dead and wounding SP.
Under current legislation, Indonesia cannot charge its citizens for joining or traveling to areas controlled by IS in the Middle East. (ary)
