Police end siege of barricaded Umar bin Khattab Islamic boarding school
NU Online · Kamis, 14 Juli 2011 | 08:08 WIB
Bima, NU Online
Police finally managed to enter and investigate an Islamic boarding school in Bima, Sumbawa island on Wednesday, two days after a bomb blast killed one man, an officer said.
National Police deputy spokesman Brig. Gen. Ketut Untung Yoga said his officers entered the Umar bin Khatab boarding school on Wednesday evening without resorting to force or opening fire.
“We’ve searched and conducted an investigation at the scene of the crime. Regarding what evidence we obtained, we will tell the press on Thursday,” Untung was quoted by the Jakarta Globe as saying.
The blast, which police said they believed was caused by a homemade bomb, exploded in a room at the boarding school on Monday afternoon, killing school treasurer Firdaus.
But the school’s management, its students and some local residents, many of them reportedly armed with swords and possibly other weapons, barred the police from entering the school compound.
Four platoons from the local Mobile Brigade police (Brimob) police and the anti-riot squad, as well as additional forces from the Indonesian Armed Forces, surrounded the school, where 45 students armed with sticks and machetes, as well as teachers and an unknown number of supporters were holed up.
Confusion on whether force was used by the police followed a statement earlier on Wednesday by National Police spokesman Inspector General Anton Bachrul Alam.
At the time, he said the police at the scene had opened fire on a group of students who were hurling stones at them.
The police suffered minor injures and three students were wounded when they retaliated.
Anton said the 13 people had been arrested, adding that they had all been arrested outside the school while they were on their way to burying the deceased.
West Nusa Tenggara police spokesman Adj. Sr. Comr. Sukarman Husein said that police “are still using persuasive means to avoid casualties” and that no shots had been fired.
National Police Operational Assistant Insp. Gen. Badrodin Haiti said that while “there is not a single piece of land in Indonesia that remain untouchable for our officers,” police would always prefer a negotiated settlement to avoid bloodshed.
Religious Affairs Minister Suryadharma Ali admitted that the boarding school had been problematic since it was established in 2004.
Should anyone at the school be found belonging to a radical group, “then the boarding school must be closed down and its students provided with renewed guidance,” he said.
Son Hadi, a spokesman for the Jama’ah Ansharut Tauhid (JAT), a hard-line group founded by convicted cleric Abu Bakar Bashir, acknowledged that the boarding school had links with his organization. (dar)
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