Two Jemaah Islamiyah terrorists killed, cop hurt in Indonesia shootout
The terrorists used self-assembled firearms in the firefight.
JAKARTA: Two suspected Jemaah Islamiyah terrorists were killed and one policeman shot and injured in a shootout between the terror group and Indonesia’s counterterrorism force in Sumatra, Indonesia, Wednesday (Apr 12), a terrorism researcher told SEA MILITANCY.
The shootout between the terror group and Indonesian police antiterror force Densus 88 took place at about 7.30pm at two different places - at a registered forest area in Pringsewu Regency and at Sendang Baru Village, Central Lampung regency, both in Lampung province, according to a news report in Bahasa Indonesia.
The identities of the two suspected terrorists who died in the shootout were not yet known, the report said, adding their bodies were taken to Bhayangkara Hospital, Lampung.
Head of Densus 88 Operational Assistance, Aswin Siregar, confirmed the incident to DetikNews.
"It's true, Densus 88 members are working on this case intensively. We'll update soon," Aswin said without naming the terror group involved.
Densus 88 are still hunting for several other people involved in the shootout, added DetikNews.
The Indonesian government-linked terrorism researcher told SEA MILITANCY the group involved in the shootout was Jemaah Islamiyah and that the suspected terrorists had used self-assembled firearms in the clash with Densus 88.
“This is a JI (Jemaah Islamiyah) group. They have self-assembled firearms that were passed from Zulkarnaen who was arrested two years ago. Zulkarnaen was a high-ranking member of JI who was wanted since the Bali bombings,” said Ulta Levenia Nababan of Galatea, a Jakarta-based think tank.
“He (Zulkarnaen) got a lot of firearms during his arrest. Police discovered that he had taught Para Wijayanto’s JI members how to assemble firearms.
“They planned to use this gun for ‘ammaliyah’ or terror acts, so Densus had to stop them, but one of them shot at police first (in Wednesday’s shootout).”
Aris Sumarsono, who used the alias Zulkarnaen, was arrested by Densus 88 in December 2020 in East Lampung regency. He was the former military commander of Jemaah Islamiyah, an Indonesian militant group with ties to al-Qaida which the U.S. has designated a terrorist group.
The group is widely blamed for attacks including the 2002 suicide bombings on the Indonesian resort island of Bali that killed 202 people, mostly foreign tourists, as well as attacks in the Philippines.
Zulkarnaen had eluded capture for 18 years since being named a suspect in the 2002 Bali suicide bombings.
Para Wijayanto, named as the emir of JI in 2009, was sentenced to seven years' jail in July 2020 for inciting people to commit an act of terrorism.
Prosecutors said he was instrumental in recruiting, training and raising funds for Indonesian militants who went to Syria between 2012 and 2018 to fight alongside those opposed to the regime of President Bashar al-Assad.