Maluku Islands on high terrorism alert
Ambon (AsiaNews) In Ambon and Ternate, Maluku Islands, security forces are in a higher state of alert in the run-up to Christmas and New Year celebrations.
Both drivers and pedestrians will have to put up with tighter controls as police check identities.
Ternate Police Chief Edy Purwatmo said such measures are designed to stop infiltrations into the northern Malukus by followers of the late terrorist Azahari bin Husain. The region is an ideal hiding place for its close proximity to the southern Philippines.
Security checks will also be carried out after dark and particular vigilance will be exercised in Ambon's Pattimura Airport
Some local Christians have also started patrolling their own churches in towns and villages around Ambon till after the New Year.
According to The Jakarta Post daily, the police will again interrogate Muhammad Attamimi, who chairs the Stain Muslim Academy in Ambon.
Mr Attamimi will have to provide answers as to why weapons and explosives were found near his institute last May 19.
He has already been interrogate as a witness; now he must answer charges that he is linked to terrorist groups active in the Malukus.
But people on the Malukus don't have only terrorism to content with. Heightened police-army rivalry has escalated into clashes like the one that took place yesterday at dawn in Waihaong, Ambon.
Local residents were woken by the sound of gun fire and saw policemen and soldiers throw stones each other. The incident damaged eight cars and six houses, wounding six civilians.
Small squabbles are degenerating into open fights. Yesterday's clash began when a policeman berated a soldier at a wedding.
Residents are especially worried by this kind of thing, because security forces have shown to be unreliable and unprofessional, incapable of ensuring security and distracted by infantile rivalries.
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16/05/2022 15:28
25/04/2022 14:57
