"Yes, we have received information that there are two victims of the shootout. Right now, the provincial police chief is headed to the scene," Hari Suprapto, spokesman of the Central Sulawesi Province, stated, here, Tuesday.
Suprapto could not give further details whether the two radicals were injured or dead in the incident.
The shootout took place in Talabosa village, Lore Piore sub-district, Poso District.
In the meantime, the Tinombala Operation 2016, launched to hunt Santoso and his men in the jungles of Poso, has been extended for another six months, a cabinet member revealed.
"I propose that the operation should be extended for six months since if it is extended for every two months, we are just going to be involved in administrative matters," Political, Legal and Security Affairs Coordinating Minister Luhut Binsar Panjaitan noted on March 10.
The Indonesian military and police had launched a manhunt for the top leader of the Poso-based terrorist group, who is also known as Abu Wardah, through the Tinombala Operation 2016 on January 10, but he has continued to evade arrest.
"The extension is necessary as the joint operation involving the military and police personnel has just run well for 43 days," he said, adding that the security personnel have been able to corner Santoso and his men.
"They have been relatively encircled," he stated.(*)
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2016
