Indonesia-wide terrorist plan found in the wake of anti-Christian attack in Mamasa
by Mathias Hariyadi

Poso (AsiaNews) – An attack on April 24 that cost the lives of six people in predominantly Christian Mamasa regency (district) in West Sulawesi was part of a wider terrorist scheme, this according to General Saleh Saaf, South Sulawesi Police Chief Inspector, after the arrest of Amirrudin, 22, a terror suspect arrested following the Mamasa attack.

General Saaf said that documents in the young man's possession reveal the existence of "plans to carry out terror attacks and bombings across the country".

Currently, police is analysing the confiscated documents to decipher the coded information they contain.

During his interrogation Amirrudin admitted he was part of the terrorist commando that carried out the attack against residents of Ranu village in Mamasa in which houses were torched and six people killed.

For the past three years West Sulawesi province has been the scene of violent clashes after the government created two new regencies—Mamasa and Polewali Mamasa—out of the existing Polewali Mamasa regency.

The division sparked protests in three predominantly Muslim sub-districts that were included in predominantly Christian Mamasa.

The April 24 incident might however be part of a wider terror plan, involving the Poso area and the Maluku Islands (Moluccas).

Police are currently investigating possible links between the latest episodes of violence in Mamasa and events in Poso and Ambon, where clashes between Christians and Muslims have been going on for years.

"[S]hortly after we nabbed Amiruddin, there have been two bombings in Poso of which one had exploded only 70 metres from Poso Police Chief Residence," General Saaf said.

The Police Chief said that the seized documents contain information about how to make home-made bombs.

The search still goes on for four terrorists, friends of Amirrudin, known only by their initials: JM, MH, AS e AH.