The Jakarta Post, 1/24/2007 7:50:29 PM
Police killings of alleged militants risk more violence in Indonesia
JAKARTA (AP): The killings of 15 alleged Islamic militants by police on conflict-ridden
Sulawesi island this week risk inflaming Indonesia's terrorist movements and should
be independently investigated, a think tank said Wednesday.
The police defended the raid, denying allegations in local media that three of those
killed were innocent bystanders and insisting that officers opened fire after they came
under attack by well-armed militants.
Sulawesi was the scene of bloody battles between Islam and Christian gangs in six
years ago.
Monday's raid in the flash-point town of Poso followed another police attack two
weeks ago that left two militants dead, one of whom was allegedly a key Jemaah
Islamiyah member who had trained in Afghanistan.
Police seized a large haul of weapons, bombs and ammunition in both raids.
The Brussels-based International Crisis Group said in a report that the "fact that the
operations were justified does not mean that they were well conducted."
"A jihad that has been largely directed against local Christians could now be focused
on the police ... and give a boost to Indonesia's weakened jihadi movement," it said.
Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim nation, with a mostly moderate
population.
Islamic rebellions in the 1950s briefly erupted in two staunchly Muslim regions, while
Jemaah Islamiyah has launched a series of bloody bombings against Western targets
in recent years, the most deadly being the 2002 nightclub bombings on Bali island
that killed 202 people.
The Crisis Group urged the government to establish an independent commission of
inquiry to probe this month's operations to see whether any of the deaths could have
been avoided. It said the commission should make sure the report is made public and
widelydistributed.
Deputy police chief Lt. Gen. Makbul Padmanegara welcomed any probe.
"The human rights people, parliamentarians, please come and investigate," he told
reporters on Wednesday. "We have nothing to hide." (***)
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