House commission to question police chief over deadly attack

House of Representatives Commission III on Justice and Human Rights summoned National Police chief Gen. Bambang Hendarso Danuri over Wednesday's armed attack that killed three police officers at a precinct police station in Deli Serdang, North Sumatra.

Edi Ramli Sitangggang, a member of the commission, said Thursday that the commission would ask question over the relation between terrorism activity, a bank robbery and the attack on Wednesday.

“There is the possibility that the weapons used in Wednesday's attack were the same as those used in CIMB Niaga Bank robbery in August,” he said as quoted by kompas.com.

Despite the attack coming only a few days after the shooting deaths of three armed robbery and terrorism suspects in Medan by the Detachment 88 antiterror unit, Bambang said he did not believe it was an act of revenge adding that it had been long planned.

Before the brazen attack, Detachment 88 had shot dead three suspects and arrested 15 others in relation to the bank robbery, all of whom have links to al-Qaeda, Jamaah Islamiyah (JI) and JI’s Indonesian affiliate Jamaah Ansharut Tauhid (JAT), which was led by Abu Bakar Ba’asyir until his arrest in August for allegedly funding a terrorist training camp in Aceh.


(2010-09-23/thejakartapost)