Photos of suspects in Poso violence disseminated
Ruslan Sangadji, The Jakarta Post, Palu
November 03, 2006

The Central Sulawesi Police on Thursday distributed eight photos of Muslim militants believed to have been involved in a series of violent attacks on Christians in the conflict-hit town of Poso.
The eight are among 29 suspects being hunted down by police, who are believed to be hiding somewhere in the province.
Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. Muhammad Kilat said Thursday of the 29 people, 26 belonged to the Tanah Runtuh Muslim militant group based in Gebang Rejo village and the rest were from the Kayamanya group in Kayamanya village in Poso.
"We urge those already identified by the police as suspects to surrender. We also ask for the help of the community and religious figures in Poso and Palu to help the police (in tracking down the men). These are the people who have terrorized the Poso and Palu communities," Kilat said.
However, Muslim leader Ustadz Jamaluddin Hadi said police were announcing the names of the suspects to divert attention from their involvement in a raid on an Amanah Muslim boarding school at Gebang Rejo on Oct. 22, where one Muslim man was shot dead. In 2002, Jamaluddin signed the Malino peace declaration to end the region's 1999-2002 sectarian conflict.
"The people whose names were announced are already being legally processed so why are their names being mentioned again?" Jamaluddin said.
Kilat said six of 26 officers involved in the raid had been questioned over the incident and that number would likely rise.
"We are waiting for the (preliminary) results of the interrogations."
He said the police would also question several Gebang Rejo residents after police reconstructed the incident.
A reconstruction was necessary because of "suspicious" events surrounding the incident, Kilat said.
Meanwhile, a team set up to probe the violence after a dialog between Vice President Jusuf Kalla and Muslim representatives in Palu on Sunday held a series of meetings in Palu Thursday.
The first was held with Central Sulawesi Governor Banjela Paliuju and other high-ranking provincial officials, followed by a meeting with Central Sulawesi Police chief Brig. Gen. Badrodin Haiti at the city's Golden Hotel.
At the meeting, Haiti said violent incidents could be prevented if residents did not attack police.
During the recent police raid in Gebang Rejo, officers were surrounded by angry villagers and had to fire warning shots into the air to dispurse the crowd, he said. They later had to call for reinforcements from the Poso Police precinct.
"The officers were cornered after the residents hit electricity poles in a signal to hundreds of local people to attack them," Haiti said.
However, Haiti's version of events was disputed by a member of the team, Harun Nyak Itam Abu, who said the police shot first and asked questions later after a tense standoff between officers and residents at the school.