"Nine of them are non-commissioned and enlisted officers."
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - Army investigators have confirmed that 11 members of army`s special forces Kopassus were behind the killing of four detainees at a penitentiary in Cebongan, Sleman, Yogyakarta, recently.

"Eleven members of Kopassus have been involved in the raid at the Cebongan penitentiary. One of them acted as the executor and eight others as supporters while two others had sought to prevent their action," the chief of army investigators for the case, Brigadier General Unggul K Yudhoyono said at a press conference here on Thursday.

He said the eight who had acted as supporters arrived in two cars namely blue Avanza and black APV vans while two others who had tried to prevent the action in a Feroza jeep.

"The executor is known by his initial as U. Nine of them are non-commissioned and enlisted officers," he said.

Unggul said that two of them had actually tried to prevent the attack but failed.

He said the attack was done spontaneously in response to the killing of Kopassus member chief sergeant Heru Santoso at Hugo`s Cafe on March 19 and an attack on former Kopassus member first sergeant Sriyono by the four thugs.

"It is true the raid on the Cebongan penitentiary was done in response to the attack by the thugs on their colleagues that led to the death of them (Heru Santoso),"he said.

In the past six days the investigators have visited several places including the penitentiary, the Yogyakarta Military Command and the Kopassus Group II headquarters in Karang Menjangan, Solo, and questioned 25 people.

(Reporting by Syaiful Hakim, editing by Yoseph Hariyadi)

Editor: Priyambodo RH
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