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Two Police Officers Killed in ‘Terror’ Shooting
Farouk Arnaz | May 25, 2011

The May 25 daylight attack on two police officers, who had been guarding a Bank Central Asia branch in Palu, Central Sulawesi, had been planned since August, according to police. (Antara Photo/Zainuddin MN) The May 25 daylight attack on two police officers, who had been guarding a Bank Central Asia branch in Palu, Central Sulawesi, had been planned since August, according to police. (Antara Photo/Zainuddin MN)
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exbrit
6:05am May 26, 2011

"The area is still known as a haven for Islamic hard-line groups."

So what is the government doing to get rid of them? Just waiting for the next attack?

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Authorities are investigating a shooting in Palu, Central Sulawesi, on Wednesday that left two officers dead in what a source says may have been a terrorist attack.

Sr. Comr. Ari Diono Sukmanto, the province’s deputy police chief, said Second Brigs. Gustiar Yudistira and Andi Ibrar were gunned down by unidentified assailants on motorcycles.

A third officer, Second Brig. Dedi Edwar, sustained a gunshot wound to the thigh. He is under heavy guard at a city hospital.

Ari said the victims were assigned to a guard post near a Bank Central Asia branch in Palu, but he said police had ruled out a robbery attempt.

The National Police’s elite antiterror unit, Densus 88, will be dispatched to the area to investigate the shooting, he added.

“We are pretty sure that what happened was a terrorist attack,” a source from the unit told the Jakarta Globe on Wednesday.

“[Terrorists] want revenge and attack our officers.”

Palu was the scene of sectarian conflict between 2001-02, when Muslims and Christians engaged in bloody riots that claimed the lives of around 1,000 people. Sporadic violence has continued to flare up in the area despite a truce in 2002.

The area is still known as a haven for Islamic hard-line groups.

Ari said the Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) had pledged to assist the police in tracking down the perpetrators. However, he said identifying the suspects would be difficult since they wore helmets to conceal their faces.

The deputy police chief said  four men arrived at the police post on two motorcycles at around 11:25 a.m. on Wednesday.Witnesses said one of the men got down from his bike and started firing at the guard post.

Gustiar died from woulds to his chest, stomach and neck, while Andi was hit in his head, chest and arm, authorities said.

Ari said the gunman shot from a distance of three meters and later stole a V2 assault rifle belonging to one of the victims before he fled the scene with the three other suspects.

Palu Police Chief Adj. Comr. Raden Deden Garnada said he immediately ordered checkpoints to be set up along all roads in Palu to prevent the gunmen from leaving town.

Raden also said investigators  had found shells from a 5.56-millimeter caliber gun at the crime scene, but ballistics experts had yet to determine whether the assailant used a makeshift or a standard weapon.

Central Sulawesi Police spokesman Comr. Rostin Tumaloyo told state news service Antara on Wednesday that the three officers shot in Palu came from police families.

He said Gustiar was the son of a couple assigned to the South Sulawesi police headquarters in Makassar. Andi was the son of a police officer also based in the South Sulawesi capital.

Dedi is the son of a police officer in North Sulawesi.