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Police identify bodies of alleged Santoso supporters
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National Police chief Gen. Badrodin Haiti inspects security personnel joining the Tinombala Operation task force in Poso, Central Sulawesi. He said the operation to pursue East Indonesia Mujahiddin (MIT) leader Santoso alias Abu Wardah had shown progress, although the terrorist leader had not yet been arrested. (thejakartapost.com/Ruslan Sangadji)
T
wo gunmen killed in a recent shoot-out with Operation Tinombala security forces in the Uwe Mayea Mountains of Central Sulawesi’s Poso regency were members of the terrorist group East Indonesia Mujahidin (MIT), according to police.
"The two men are Firman, alias Ikrima, from Malino in Central Sulawesi and Yazid, alias Taufik, from Java," Central Sulawesi Police chief Brig. Gen. Rudy Sufahriadi said on Tuesday.
Both men were members of the MIT group led by Santoso aka Abu Wardah, Rudy said, adding that their names were included on the most wanted list.
"But that is still [based on] preliminary identification in the field, while we are waiting for the final results from the Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) unit and doctors at the Bhayangkara Police Hospital in Palu," said Rudy.
According to the police officer, the two men were shot to death by security personnel while they were heading toward the Saatu river with at least five other men. It is suspected that the men were moving from Pantangolehmbah village on the southern coast of Poso toward Desa Saatu in the north.
"That's why, after the two men were shot, the rest escaped back into the forest," Rudy said, adding that the task force had deployed additional personnel to the location of the shoot-out and its vicinity in pursuit of the men who had escaped and also to remove the bodies.
"The evacuation is relatively slow, because aside from the rugged terrain, heavy rain has hit Poso," Rudy added.
In addition to identifying the alleged terrorists, the task force has gathered potential evidence in the form of four bags containing food, a GPS device, a mobile phone and five pipe bombs. (liz/bbn)
