Khaleej Times Online, 14 June 2005
Assailants in Indonesian province linked to Al Qaeda: police
JAKARTA (DPA) - Authorities have accused assailants involved in a recent armed
attack on a police post in Indonesia's eastern province of Maluku of having links with
Al Qaeda, an official said on Tuesday.
Maluku Police Chief Brigadier General Aditya Warman said the evidence came from
the capture and interrogation of several suspects involved in the recent attack on a
Mobile Brigade (Brimob) post that left five policemen dead.
"We are continuing to investigate them as they are indeed linked to Al Qaeda," Aditya
Warman was quoted as saying by the state-run news agency Antara after a meeting
with local religious figures and political party leaders.
Those questioned by police were allegedly part of a network responsible for a series of
violent incidents in the provincial capital of Ambon, 2,340 kilometres northeast of
Jakarta, that included the assassination of a reverend and a number of bombings, the
police chief said.
"I have long stated that the incidents were the work of well trained people, and I was
right," Aditya said. "They are civilians with extraordinary capabilities."
Aditya requested during the meeting that religious figures help police deal with the
incidents, and said the masterminds behind the violence came from outside Maluku
province.
"But they also use local people in carrying out their missions. They have relations
with a number of terrorists currently wanted by the security authorities, like Dr
Azahari," Aditya said, referring to the most-wanted Malaysian fugitive accused of links
to the worst terrorist attacks on foreigners in recent years.
The police chief denied that local separatist group the Republic of South Maluku
(RMS) was behind the incidents.
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