Jubilee Campaign, May 16, 2006
Suspects in Beheadings of Indonesian Schoolgirls Arrested
Last October we reported an horrific act of terrorism against the Christian community
in Central Sulewesi, Indonesia. Four teenage girls were attacked on their way to
school by masked men wielding machetes; three of the girls were beheaded, while
the fourth received serious injuries yet survived. The murderers delivered the three
girls' heads (in black plastic bags) to a church and a police station, with notes
attached threatening more murders.
As awful as this attack was, it was only one incident in a string of violent acts
directed at the Christians of Central Sulawesi in the past year. The Tentena market
was bombed in May 2005, killing 22 and wounding more than seventy.  Two girls
were shot in the face in November; one of them
later died. Also in November, another machete
attack left another young woman dead. And on
New Year's Eve, eight people were killed and
56 injured when a bomb exploded in the Palu
marketplace. In none of these cases have any
of the attackers been identified or brought to
justice.
Until now. Compass Direct News Service
reported recently that police in Central
Sulawesi have arrested seven men in connection with the beheadings of the three
schoolgirls. At least two of the suspects may have connections with the Indonesian
terrorist group Jemaah Islamiyah, and police believe some of them were involved in the
July 2004 murder of a Christian pastor in Palu.
Please continue to pray for the Indonesian Christian community as they face
discrimination and persecution on a number of fronts. Pray for peace between
Muslims and Christians in Indonesia and for justice to prevail. We will keep you
updated of new developments in this case as they come to light.
Read the May 12 article from Compass Direct
Read an account of the Palu bombing and a commentary on last year's violent
attacks at the Jubilee Campaign web site
COMPASS DIRECT NEWS SERVICE -- MAY 12, 2006
Islamic Militants Confess to Beheading Three Girls in Indonesia
Five of seven suspects arrested last week; they also are tied to murders of other
Christians.
by Sarah Page
 Note: Click on the map
to the right for an
interactive map of
Sulawesi from
ww.peterloud.co.uk.
DUBLIN, May 12
(Compass Direct) -
Police in Indonesia
announced Wednesday
(May 10) that suspected
Islamic terrorists have confessed to beheading three Indonesian schoolgirls in Poso,
on the island of Sulawesi, in October 2005.
Five of the suspected terrorists were arrested on May 5 in Tolitoli regency, Central
Sulawesi. The Jakarta Post identified them as Apriyantono, alias Irwan; Arman, alias
Haris; Asrudin, Nano and Abdul Muis (some Indonesians use only a single name).
"Two of the arrested men were involved in the murders," national police spokesman
Brig. Gen. Anton Bachrul Alam told reporters. "Another was detained for carrying
ammunition, while the other two were arrested as accessories to the crimes."
Two additional suspects have not yet been publicly identified.
An Associated Press (AP) report initially said two of the seven suspects were
associates of Noordin Top, a key leader of the homegrown terrorist group, Jemaah
Islamiyah (JI). Alam, however, has since insisted that, "it's certain they weren't
involved with Noordin."
Alam said the suspects would be taken to national police headquarters in Jakarta for
further interrogation.
AP reported on Wednesday (May 10) that all seven men had confessed to playing a
role in the beheadings of the three Christian teenagers on October 29, 2005.
The men attacked four girls - Theresia Morangke, 15, Alfita Poliwo, 17, Yarni Sambue,
15, and Noviana Malewa, 15 - early in the morning as they walked to a Christian
school in Poso district. The first three girls were beheaded; Malewa received serious
injuries to her face and neck but survived the attack.
Malewa later described the attackers as six men wearing black shirts and masks,
and said one of the men carried a two-way radio.
The girls' heads were wrapped in black plastic bags; one was left on the steps of a
church in nearby Kasiguncu village, and the other two near a police station five miles
from Poso town. The bags contained a note stating in part, "We will murder 100 more
Christian teenagers and their heads will be presented as presents."
The men are also suspects in other violent attacks on Christians, including the murder
of the Rev. Susianty Tinulele, 26, who was shot at the Effatah Church in Palu, Central
Sulawesi, on July 18, 2004 by a gunman who entered the church wearing a mask.
Four teenagers sitting outside the church were also injured in the attack.
A Series of Brutal Attacks
Two more schoolgirls - Siti Nuraini and her friend Ivon Maganti, both 17 - were shot in
the face on November 8. Nuraini died from her wounds but Maganti survived the
attack. (See Compass Direct, "Two More Schoolgirls Critically Injured in Poso,
Indonesia," November 9, 2005.)
Machete-wielding assailants also attacked three young people, killing one of them, on
November 18; and a Christian couple were shot and seriously wounded on November
19. (See Compass Direct, "Weekend Shooting, Machete Attacks Stun Christians in
Indonesia," November 21, 2005.)
A bombing in the predominantly Christian village of Tentena in May 2005 left 22 dead
and at least 74 injured.
Another bomb exploded on New Year's Eve (December 31, 2005) at a predominantly
Christian area market in Palu, Central Sulawesi, killing eight people and injuring 56.
Over 1,000 people were killed in bloody sectarian clashes between Muslims and
Christians in Central Sulawesi between 2000 and 2001. The Malino Declaration (also
known as Malino I), signed in December 2001, stemmed the worst violence, but
sporadic bombings and attacks, mostly targeting the Christian community, have
continued.
Police suspect JI involvement; several terrorist training camps exist in the jungles of
Sulawesi, and at least one ex- trainee has admitted being trained to attack Christians.
END
©2006 Compass Direct
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Two girls
were shot in the face in November; one of them
later died. Also in November, another machete
attack left another young woman dead. And on
New Year's Eve, eight people were killed and
56 injured when a bomb exploded in the Palu
marketplace. In none of these cases have any
of the attackers been identified or brought to
justice.