Indonesian terrorist suspect shot dead in police crackdown
Date January 13, 2015 - 5:42PM
Jewel Topsfield
Fairfax foreign correspondent
Jakarta: Indonesian police shot dead a man linked to one of the country's most dangerous terrorist fugitives in a crackdown in which seven terror suspects have been arrested since Saturday.
National police spokesman Agus Rianto said the seven suspects were "core members" of the terrorist group known as Mujaheddin Eastern Indonesia, led by Abu Wardah Santoso.
Mujaheddin Eastern Indonesia is responsible for several attacks around Poso in Central Sulawesi, which has been a flashpoint for conflicts between Muslims and Christians since the late 1990s.
The terror cell is also blamed for the murders of policemen in Sulawesi in late 2012.
Greg Fealy, an academic from the Australian National University and former intelligence analyst, said Santoso's group - Mujaheddin Eastern Indonesia - was one of the most wanted terrorist groups in Indonesia.
"We know they are a group that still has an eye for Western targets," he said.
Ilham Syafii, who was shot dead by Indonesia's anti-terrorism police unit Detachment 88 on Saturday, was thought to have been close to Santoso.
But Mr Rianto said there were also others among those arrested who were close to the fugitive, including a husband and wife who helped the terrorist network with logistics and funds.
"It is our hope that by arresting the suppliers or logistics people, we may go closer to arresting Santoso," Mr Rianto said.
"They are not small fish. Some helped other terrorists we arrested earlier with assembling bombs, some participated in military-style training."
Mr Rianto said Santoso had late last year pledged allegiance to Islamic State, also known as ISIL or ISIS.
"But we still don't know if it is just himself or if his group also supports ISIS," Mr Rianto said.
In 2013, Santoso posted an online video urging his followers to keep killing members of the Indonesian counter-terrorism police squad, Detachment 88.
"Detachment 88 is the real enemy, the real Satan," he says in the video.
With Karuni Rompies
