The country’s most-wanted terrorist fugitive, Abdullah Sonata, was seized in one of two raids on Wednesday night in Central Java that also saw two more suspects detained and one killed, National Police say.
“Densus 88 has arrested Abdullah Sonata,” National Police Chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri announced in Hotel Bidakara Jakarta, where he was receiving an award from the State Ministry for Administrative Reforms for public service.
“We will continue to make arrests. We also made another arrest by the name of Agus. One of [the suspects] was shot. One of our own officers was also shot in the chest.”
Police sources say officers targeted two homes in Klaten, Central Java — on Jalan Kyai Ageng in Gribig, Gergunung village, Girimulyo subdistrict, and another on Jalan Mojopahit in Cangkringan village, Gelangwetan.
In the raids in Klaten, a small city known as a haven for terrorists, Densus 88 officers were believed to have shot dead a suspect named Yuli Karseno, an Army deserter. “Yuli was killed near the house on [Jalan] Mojopahit,” a source said.
The two other terrorist suspects injured and detained are believed to be Sogir and Agus Mahmudi, who were allegedly involved in killing three police officers in Purworejo and Kebumen a few months ago.
The house on Jalan Kyai Ageng belongs to the in-laws of Sogir, a bomber who worked with slain terror mastermind Azahari Husin, a police source said. Yogir and his wife were believed to live there.
“Our tentative conclusion is that they shot policemen to spread terror to our officers who were combing the regions of Central Java to catch terrorist suspects,” said Comr. Suharyanto, head of the Legal Bureau of the Central Java Police.
Sonata, meanwhile, was captured in a separate raid, targeting a bus he was riding in Boyolali, not far from Klaten.
Another source said: “Abdullah Sonata was arrested on a bus plying the Solo-Semarang route. We are using Sonata to get hold of other suspects linked to Abu Bakar Bashir. We hope he talks.”
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