Poso beheadings perpetrators 'caught by Army'
National News - November 09, 2005
South Sulawesi Police chief Insp. Gen. Oegroseno has been tightlipped over rumors that security authorities there have arrested a group of five men responsible for the recent beheadings of three Christian school girls in conflict-prone Poso.
A local rights activist, however, said on Tuesday that the Army's 714th Battalion had captured four men, including a former soldier, after days of hunting the perpetrators.
Oegroseno only acknowledged that "the police has summoned four or five people to be questioned in relation to the case."
"We (the police) haven't arrested anyone over the incident. What the police have done so far is to summon four or five people for questioning," Oegroseno said as quoted by Antara on Tuesday.
He said the police had questioning the men about the continuing violence in Poso -- a small town in the province which a few years ago was hit by a more than year-long Christian-Muslim conflict that killed more than a thousand people.
An Australian private television station reported on Monday that security officers had arrested five suspected slayers of the three schoolgirls.
The television station identified the killers as security personnel and said they were currently being grilled by the Poso Police.
Local activists said that one of the suspected perpetrators was a former soldier from the Army's military police. The activist -- who asked for anonymity -- identified the soldier as John Moala aka Jamal.
"One of the perpetrators works as a motorbike taxi driver, and another one as a (private) security guard," he said.
"They were captured by soldiers from the 714th Battalion. The troops captured the Army soldier, along with two of his companions, on Sunday as they combed Wekuli village in Tojo regency.
"The other one was captured on Monday, or a day after the first operation, after the troops tracked him down to the Sawo area," the activist said..
No confirmation has been forthcoming from the military so far.
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