Indonesia confirm police shooters' links to radical group

Indonesia's National Police confirmed on Sunday that the suspects behind the killing of two policemen in Central Sulawesi province two weeks ago were linked to a radical group founded by terror suspect Abu Bakar Bashir, the Jakarta Globe reported in Jakarta on Monday.

"They are members of Jemaah Ansharut Tauhid (JAT). They were trained by Abu Tholut before departing to Aceh," National Police spokesman Chief Comr. Boy Rafli Amar said, referring to a convicted terrorist who is believed to be a part of both the Al Qaida-linked Jemaah Islamiyah and Bashir's JAT.

Amar said that the May 25 daylight attack on the police officers, who had been guarding a Bank Central Asia branch in Palu, the provincial capital city, had been planned since last August.

Plans were also developed, he said, to attack members of the police's elite Mobile Brigade (Brimob) stationed in Natabalu city at the province.

Amar said that the group allegedly plotted a series of robberies to collect funds for jihad, before moving on to target police.

Between August 2010 and the Palu attack, at least three motorcycles were stolen by the group. The attacks on the police, meanwhile, were aimed at acquiring firearms to commit more crimes, Boy said.

"They are collecting resources in the form of money and weapons," he said.

Source: Xinhua

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