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Poso manhunt continues, two suspected terrorists still at large
On Saturday, Densus 88 arrested 24 suspected East Indonesia Muhajidin (MIT) supporters.
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Counterterrorism squad Densus 88 personnel take a terrorist suspect onto a bus at the East Java police headquarters in Surabaya on March 18, 2021. (Antara/Didik Suhartono)
T
he National Police’s Densus 88 counterterrorism squad is pursuing the last two suspected members of the East Indonesia Muhajidin (MIT), a homegrown militant group based in Poso, Central Sulawesi, that has pledged allegiance to the Islamic State (IS).
National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Ahmad Ramadhan confirmed on Thursday that two suspected members of the extremist group remained at large. He did not reveal their identities, but the Central Sulawesi Police previously said they were known as Nae and Askar and used multiple aliases.
On Saturday, Densus 88 officers arrested 24 people who they said were not members of the extremist group but were suspected to have been facilitating its activities.
Twenty two suspects were arrested in Central Sulawesi, one in Bekasi, West Java, and one in East Kalimantan, Ahmad said on Tuesday.
They stood accused, he said, of supporting the MIT by providing ammunition, concealing the group’s activities, planning to join the group or pledging allegiance to the new leader of IS, Abu al-Hassan al-Hashemi al-Quraishi, by "reading a text message circulated on their WhatsApp group”.
Ahmad did not disclose the identities of the suspects, from whom the police confiscated a dozen firearms and some ammunition.
Read also: Sulawesi terrorist leader shot dead by police at weekend
