Police suspect that those shooting incidents were acts of terror."
Jakarta (ANTARA News) - The National Police has ordered its rank and file to remain on the alert for shooting attacks in various regions, Police Spokesman Brig. Gen. Boy Rafli Amar said.

"In view of the recent shooting incidents, the police chief has instructed his officers on duty to stay on the alert for more such attacks. Police suspect that those shooting incidents were acts of terror," Boy said on Thursday, referring to the shooting attacks on on-duty police personnel in recent days.

Commenting on the series shooting incidents in which a number of police officers were either injured or killed, Boy noted that the unidentified shooters had targeted unarmed police personnel.

"They attacked unarmed policemen. Therefore, police should remain alert regardless of whether they are armed or not," the police spokesman stated.

Boy said the police suspected that Wednesday`s shooters belonged to a radical group that intended to spread terror.

"So far, it seems like they were from the radical group that had the guts to attack police and wanted to spread terror," he added.

First Adjunct Inspector Dwiatno, from the Cilandak sub-precinct police station in Ciputat, South Tangerang municipality, Banten province, was shot dead by an unidentified man on Wednesday.

The police officer, who was part of the Community Development Unit at the Cilandak sub-precinct police station, was shot at 5am, Western Indonesian Time (WIB), said Police Commissioner Sungkono, chief of the Cilandak sub-precinct police station, later in the day.

Sungkono added that investigations were under way to identity the gunman.

Earlier, on July 27, at 4.30am, two motorcyclists on Cirendeu Road in Ciputat shot Second Adjunt Inspector Saktiyono, who was from the Traffic Unit of Central Jakarta Police.

Indonesia Police Watch (IPW) said the police must analyze the several mysterious shooting attacks on its personnel over recent days and train as hard as possible to tackle such situations.

"The National Police should examine the shooting phenomenon seriously and train its members to the maximum extent possible to deal with such problems," IPW Presidium Chairman Neta S Pane stated here on Wednesday.

Neta said efforts at the grass-roots level were necessary for police personnel to earn the public`s respect and also anticipate the actions of criminals who dare to shoot police officers in the field.

Based on IPW data, he added, there were three incidents of attacks on police personnel in Jakarta during the past month.
(Uu.A014/INE/H-YH)

Editor: Priyambodo RH
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