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.
Surakarta bomber hid in chicken coop before attack: Police
Change Size
On high alert -- Police examine the perimeter of the suicide bombing site at the Surakarta Police station, in Central Java. The suicide bomber, Nur Rohman, died in the attack on July 5, while a police officer sustained injuries. (thejakartapost.com/Ganug Nugroho Adi)
S
uspected terrorist Nur Rohman had been hiding in a chicken coop in Jetis village, Tulung, Klaten, Central Java, for six months before he launched a suicide bomb attack at the Surakarta Police office on July 5, a police report revealed on Sunday.
It was during this period hiding in the chicken coop that Nur Rohman planned the attack, the report further said.
“He worked at a poultry farm belonging to Jetis resident Winarno. We never suspected that Nur Rohman had been working inside a chicken coop for six months before he carried out the suicide bombing attack,” Tulung Police chief Adj.Comr.Parmo said on Sunday.
He said that on Saturday, the National Police’s Densus 88 counterterrorism squad arrested five people suspected to have helped Nur Rohman. They include two married couples, Agus Suharyanto-Bekti and Winarno-Zubaidah. Agus is Nur Rohman’s older brother. The couples are still being investigated by Densus 88.
(Read also : Densus 88 arrests collaborator of Surakarta suicide bomber)
Parmo said the police also confiscated several pieces of evidence after searching Winarno’s poultry farm and Agus’ house. He said he did not have the specific details of the evidence confiscated by the counterterrorism unit’s personnel.
“According to information we’ve received, they were taken to Semarang [the Central Java Police headquarters]. From what we know, they were all good residents here. They were friendly and active in village activities,” said Parmo.
Another Jetis resident, Jarwanto, made a similar statement. He said Agus was known as a good person and had never been involved in strange religious activities. He was even the most enthusiastic participant each time a community working event was held in the village.
“No resident in the village knew that Agus was Nur Rohman’s elder brother. They were only aware that Nur Rohman was a terrorism fugitive after the suicide bomb attack occurred and his face appeared on TV and in newspapers,” said Jarwanto.
Another resident, Joko Pramono, said that none the residents had been suspicious of Winarno’s poultry farm as the business had operated normally and nothing strange had ever been seen there.
“They were shocked to hear that a terrorism fugitive was hiding in the poultry farm for six months. Hopefully, the five residents arrested were not involved in Nur Rohman’s terror attack,” said Joko. (ebf)
