C

entral Sulawesi Police have released video footage that purportedly shows supporters of the Islamic State (IS) movement conducting combat training in a jungle in Poso.

'€œAfter examining the video footage repeatedly we are sure that it is genuine,'€ Central Sulawesi Police chief Brig. Gen. Idham Azis told The Jakarta Post on Thursday.

Idham said that the police found the footage in the Impo mountain range in South Poso Pesisir at the end of October 2014.

He said the video material was left behind along with other items by the terrorist group, led by most-wanted terror suspects Santoso and Daeng Koro, as it fled into the jungle after an exchange of gunfire with the security forces.

In the footage, which had been edited into several short parts, the armed group was seen practicing shooting long-barreled firearms.

The members of the gang are recorded stating that they have joined the IS movement, also known as ISIS or ISIL, and warning people living in the mountains not to inform the police on pain of death.

Although the site of the training was believed to be in the forests of Poso, Idham said the police had not yet positively identified the exact location. He said the police would use the footage to identify the location.

He added that there were currently believed to be some 20 people in the group, armed with guns and homemade bombs.

Operation Camar Maleo 2015, the joint-security effort comprising military and police personnel to hunt for the gang, he said, had been ongoing since January.

The joint operation, according to Idham, had so far seized explosives, guns and other items suspected of belonging to terrorists operating in Poso Pesisir, North Poso Pesisir and South Poso Pesisir.

Meanwhile, Governor Longki Djanggola expressed the hope that the security forces would be able to capture the terrorist leaders in Poso soon, as their presence had caused fear among local people and disrupted daily life.

'€œThe police have to inform the public how long the operation will take place and whether they will be able to arrest Santoso,'€ Longki said.

Poso was prone to sectarian conflict from 1998 to 2000. Over 2,000 people were reportedly killed or disappeared in the conflict, which ended in 2001 through a peace agreement known as the Malino Declaration.

No similar mass inter-communal or sectarian conflict has been reported since, but new radical groups have emerged in the region.

First Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) led by Abu Bakar Ba'€™asyir, then Jamaah Ansharut Tauhid (JAT).

In Poso the JAT built their headquarters in Gunung Biru, Tamanjeka, Poso Pesisir, where they established the Darul Ansharut Tauhid Islamic boarding school. They left the area after police discovered their whereabouts.

The JAT has not been heard from since and this latest armed civilian group, describing themselves as the East Indonesian Mujahidin (MIT), has since emerged under the leadership of Santoso.