TNI commander Air Marshal Hadi Tjahjanto said the special unit was due to be deployed from the Halim Perdanakusuma Airbase, East Jakarta, on Tuesday morning.

“Tomorrow morning, a special unit will be deployed from the Halim [Perdanakusuma Airbase] to Palu and will later be stationed in Poso to strengthen the existing unit [in the region],” Hadi told a press conference on Monday.

He went on to say that the special unit aimed to provide full support to the National Police in hunting down individuals affiliated with the extremist group. He asked for public support, adding that he had hoped to live up to people’s expectations by immediately locating and apprehending those responsible for the alleged terror attack in Sigi.

President Joko “Jokowi” Widodo has condemned the killings in Sigi, saying that the government would provide financial compensation to the families affected by the incident. 

He called for calm and patience as the government, through the police and military, worked toward apprehending those responsible for the attack.

“Such a heinous crime was clearly aimed to provoke and at creating terror among the public to ruin national unity and harmony,” the President said on Monday.  “I once again emphasize that there is no place in our homeland for terrorism.”

House of Representatives Commission I member Maj. Gen. (ret.) TB Hasanuddin commended the military’s swift decision to support the police in bringing the perpetrators to justice. He noted that the terrains around Poso, especially the area patrolled by the Tinombala joint police-military operation, could prove to be fertile ground for guerrilla movements.

“The area is well-suited for guerrilla warfare and it so happens to be [occupied] by the MIT terrorist group,” Hasanuddin said as quoted by tribunnews.com.

Four residents of Lembantongoa village in Sigi were killed on Friday in an apparent terrorist attack attributed to MIT.

Brig. Gen. Farid Makruf, commander of the 132/Tadulako Regional Military Command in Palu, said the attack had included arson. A venue for local Christians and six houses were destroyed in the blaze.

Two victims were beheaded and the other two died of severe burns, he said in a written statement.

Farid denied that the attack had targeted a specific religious group as it had also affected non-Christian families residing in the area.

Activists have urged the central government and the Central Sulawesi administration to take swift action to ensure that the attack would not further polarize the public.

Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Minister Mahfud MD said in a statement on Sunday that the government was committed to tracking down those responsible for the murders and the accompanying destruction.

“The government will get tough and hunt down the perpetrators through the Tinombala joint [police-military] operation for their senseless violence against a family that led to the deaths of four people in Sigi,” the minister said.

Acting on Jokowi’s orders, Mahfud said, his office had taken steps to carry out police and military raids at locations thought to be connected to the extremist group.

The Tinombala police-military operation was established in January 2016 to hunt down then-MIT leader Santoso and his supporters in Poso. It has been extended several times, most recently in early 2019 amid speculation that the group had recruited new members. The extension expires on Dec. 31. The operation is itself a continuation of the 2015 Operation Camar Maleo.