"We should take this opportunity to increase and intensify the operations. The Tinombala operation will not slacken. It will even continue to be reinforced further," General Gatot Nurmantyo said.
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Although fugitive Santoso, the leader of the armed terrorist group in Poso, Central Sulawesi, was killed in a gunfight with security officers recently, the Tinomabala Task Force will continue operations to eliminate the groups cells.

The Tinombala operation, involving a special team of three thousand military and police personnel, was started in January 2016 in line with President Joko Widodos directive to wipe out the Santoso group, which had made Poso a terror hotbed for years.

In a gunfight between the Tinombala Task Force and the armed terrorist group in Poso on July 18, the team members successfully shot dead two fugitives, one of them was the leader Santoso alias Abu Wardah. The other one was fugitive Mochtar.

However, the task force will not cease its operations until after it eliminates the groups cells. It is believed that the group still has 19 members hiding in Poso.

Commander of the Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) General Gatot Nurmantyo said in Palu, Central Sulawesi on Wednesday (July 20) that he and the National Police (Polri) General Tito Karnavian will continue the Tinombala operation and reinforce the task force, despite the fact that the terrorist leader had been crippled.

"We should take this opportunity to increase and intensify the operations. The Tinombala operation will not slacken. It will even continue to be reinforced further," Nurmantyo told the press after he and Tito Karnavian observed the bodies of Santoso and Mocthar at Bhayangkara hospital on Wednesday evening.

Now, a total of 3,406 personnel of the joint military-police task force are being deployed to trace down the remaining 19 members of the Santoso-led East Indonesian Mujahidin radical group.

"A total of 3,406 personnel are involved in Tinombal operations. They consist of 1,518 police personnel and 1,888 military officers," Head of the Tinombala 2016 Operation, Senior Commissioner Leo Bona Lubis, said in a coordination meeting at the Central Sulawesi governor office, on Wednesday.

"We do not stop the Tinombala Operation although the terrorist kingpin has been killed," said Leo.

According to TNI Commander General Gatot Nurmantyo, the Tinombala Operation will be strengthened without increasing the number of task force personnel. The task force is already very strong, concerted and has solid coordination.

One of the forms of strength of the task force is its planned territorial operations aimed at improving the standard of life of the local people in the Tinombala operation areas.

"We have reported to President Joko Widodo (Jokowi) the plan of the task force to conduct territorial operations," said General Gatot Nurmantyo.

The territorial operations will be carried out in cooperation with the regional government of Central Sulawesi Province and with other relevant agencies. "We will carry out the operations together. The governor will play the dominant role."

The plan to continue the operations to wipe out Santosos remaining members in Poso was also stressed by the National Police. "The Tinombala Operation will be continued," Insp. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar, Public Relations Division Chief of the National Police Headquarters, confirmed.

Amar affirmed that the operations will be continued to crush the terrorist group in Poso.

"This is to entirely eliminate terrorist activities and to anticipate the emergence of new terror cells," he added.

The Tinombala Task Force is split to conduct reconnaissance in four sectors in Poso. Three of the sectors are located in the northern coastal area of Poso, the Tokorondo region, and in the eastern coastal area.

"With the operations ongoing in the four sectors, the groups movement has been restricted, and it will face difficulties in procuring logistics, which will further weaken it," he pointed out.

Sector one of the operations is code named Alfa while sector two carries the code-name Bravo, sector three Charlie and sector four Delta. Each sector has several hunting teams from the Polri and the TNI and a striker team from the TNI.

Referring to the success of the Alfa-29 team of the Infantry Battalion 515 Raider of the Infantry Brigade 2 of the Armys Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad), in shooting Santoso to death, TNI Chief Nurmantyo said the Tinombala Operation is an operation under the responsibility of the National Police chief. The TNI only provides assistance and personnel.

The Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) Chief Spokesman Maj. Gen. Tatang Sulaiman stated that the Raider Battalion 515 of the Armys Strategic Command Force (Kostrad) and the Tinombala Task Force exchanged gunfire with the Santoso group on Monday evening (July 18). One of the group members, Santoso, was shot dead.

"Hence, there were armed terrorists exchanging gunfire with the Kostrads Raider Battalion 515 and the Tinombala Task Force," the TNI chiefs spokesman noted.

The gunfight began at 5 p.m. Central Indonesia Standard Time. Five members of the extremist group and five personnel of the Tinombala Task Force were involved in the exchange of gunfire that ended in the killing of two terrorists, one of whom was Santoso.(*)

Reporter: Andi Abdussalam
Editor: Heru Purwanto
Copyright © ANTARA 2016