Man Killed in Poso Member of Santoso Group: Police

Jakarta (Antara Bali) - The man killed in a firefight with the Tinombala Task Force personnel in Poso, Central Sulawesi, on Thursday was one of the ten members of the Santoso-led terrorist group wanted by the police, police stated here Friday.

"He is one of the remaining wanted members of the Santoso group, which was involved in the killing of Poso resort police chief Suharyono, alias Yono Sayur, alias Pak (Mr) Hiban, in 2016, " the head of public information bureau of the Public Relations Division of the Indonesia Police, Brigadier General Agus Rianto said here Friday.

At around 2.50pm local time on Thursday a firefight erupted in the Kuala Air Teh hamlet in the village of Salubanga, Sausu sub-district, Parigi, which is the area of the Tinombala Operation in 2016 between Tinombala Operation personnel and members of the armed group.

At 1pm a Tinombala Operation team detected 2 members of the armed group carrying machetes with one of them wearing a cowboy hat, who they believed were seeking food in the farm.

The team fired warning shots but the terrorists fled southwest. They were chased, and after one of them threw a bomb, they were shot at, leaving one dead.

The body of the person was then evacuated from Salubanga village that night and at 00.45 am on Friday it arrived at Sausu Res Primo sector police and at 04.15am at Bhayangkara hospital in Palu, Central Sulawesi, where is it now still undergoing further identification, Agus said.

Initial physical identification revealed that the person has curled hair and tattoos of women's pictures on the back and on his foot which have been shown to his family members, he said.

Among the items confiscated from him include a backpack, three bombs, a compass, a saw, medicines, a piece of tarpaulin, a combat uniform, a hammock, two IDs under the names of Habib Zakaria and Abdul Majid, a family ID, a pack of cooked rice, a quarter kilogram of rice, five papayas, a jacket and a t-shirt, and a pair of shoes, he said.(WDY)