The anti-terror squad hurtled from a white van on a bustling street as their quarry — three terror suspects — stepped out of a taxi.
They shoved one to the ground and when he tried to shake free, shot him in the head. Another died from a bullet to the chest. The third was led away, his hands tied behind his back and his shirt covered in blood, only to turn up dead hours later.
That’s not unusual in Indonesia, where US-trained forces at the core of the anti-terror fight have a startling kill-to-capture ratio: One suspect killed for every four arrested.
The deaths not only raise human rights concerns, but risk fueling Islamist propaganda and tarnishing what has been a highly praised campaign that has seen hundreds of suspects arrested and convicted.
The killings also mean the suspects cannot be questioned and there is no chance to gather intelligence on their networks.
Indonesia was thrust into the front lines of the war on terror in 2002, when al-Qaeda-linked nightclub bombings on Bali killed 202 people, many of them tourists. There have been several attacks on Western targets since then, but all have been far less deadly — and the most recent was a year ago.
The country’s elite Detachment 88 anti-terror unit has received much of the credit.
Named for the 88 Australians killed in the Bali bombings, the force has been at the forefront of the fight against terror. Its officers have taken on suspects holed up in houses booby-trapped with explosives. Other wanted men have been heavily armed, wearing suicide vests as they fired or threw shrapnel bombs from their hideouts.
However, witnesses of the May 12 operation in east Jakarta said that none of the three suspects appeared to carry a weapon or to put up much resistance.
Police deny that, saying they were armed and dangerous.
Authorities have identified only one of the suspects: Maulana, who was shot in the chest, was accused of involvement in a jihadi training camp in Aceh Province and a failed plot on Indonesia’s deputy house speaker, National Police Chief General Bambang Hendarso Danuri said.
The other two men remain unidentified — and, it now appears, may have been implicated simply because they were riding with Maulana in the taxi. Police claim they were linked to the Aceh cell as well.
Dina, a 33-year-old cigarette vendor, said she watched as a police officer pounced on one of the men, who was wearing jeans and a striped T-shirt. When he tried to break free, another officer raised his gun and shot a single bullet into the suspect’s head. He died in front of her, blood gushing from the wound.
“It was horrible,” she said. “The sounds coming from his mouth reminded me of a goat being slaughtered.”
Anti-terror police grabbed another man and, when he tried to get away, smashed a rock into his face, said Edi Suyatno, a bus conductor.
Police later said that man, too, had been killed by a bullet wound sustained during the raid.
The two unidentified men were buried last week in a cemetery that is often used by the government for the homeless and other nameless victims, with simple stones marking their graves.
The only people in attendance were a few Muslim activists, who said the men deserved a proper Islamic burial. Maulana’s body was returned to his village.
Munarman, a lawyer who often represents militants and is publicly sympathetic to their cause, questioned the police methods, especially when it came to the two unidentified men. He expressed outrage, saying a human rights tribunal should be set up to investigate “extra-judicial killings.”
“Police didn’t even know their names!” he said. “These guys shot to kill. If they were worried, why didn’t they just immobilize them, shoot them in the leg or shoulder?”
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