Sumatra: fundamentalists kill three police officers in revenge attack
Jakarta (AsiaNews) – Security forces are baffled and outraged by the terrorist attack that claimed the lives of three police officers this morning in northern Sumatra province, a crime that strongly resembles another one that took place in Central a few months ago.
Police spokesman Inspector General Iskandar Hassan said that the attack was closely related to last Saturday’s police raid against a terror group in Aceh.
“About 12 people took part in the attack,” local Police Chief General Oegroseno said, in what amounts to an act of revenge for what happened last week. In any event, it “was unpredictable”.
The Indonesian government reacted angrily to what happened. Security Minister said that all his forces were on alert. “I issued orders to police to hunt them down,” he said, at all costs.
Across the country, the influence of Muslim terrorists appears to be increasing uncontrollably, and bank robberies are becoming the preferred method of self-financing. European terrorist groups had done the same in the 1970s, but for Indonesia, it is something new. Now, General Bambang Hendarso Danurix said, “Fundamentalists are increasingly showing signs that they too are getting into holdups as well”.