Palu – Indonesia has deployed an additional 200 paramilitary police reinforcements to the restive town of Poso after a shootout during a hunt for suspected militants left 11 people dead.
Two additional companies from the elite Brimob unit will "be posted in Poso to enforce the security there," deputy local police chief I Nyoman Sindra said after a ceremony for an officer who was one of the dead.
Sindra said the police had earlier this month requested additional support from the military to restore order in the area. The shootout, which also wounded six people, broke out as police searched for suspected militants Monday in Poso, on the island of Sulawesi.
"In the operation, we arrested 24 people, while 11 people were killed," national police spokesman Sisno Adiwinoto told reporters in Jakarta, raising the earlier death toll by one.
Sporadic unrest has continued in Poso and the surrounding district since it became a focal point of violence between Muslims and Christians that claimed about 1,000 lives in 2000-2001.
Adiwinoto said all 35 arrested or killed were carrying firearms and explosives. "None of them are civilians, all of them are armed criminals. It is clear from their ability to shoot on target," he said, adding none of them was originally from Poso.
He said one of those killed and two arrested were on a list of 29 people wanted in connection with a series of anti-Christian attacks in the area.
Separately, national police spokesman Anton Bachrul Alam said three people on the list gave themselves up Tuesday morning, adding "we are still open for more people to surrender."
In the raid, police seized 21 homemade firearms, seven guns, 21 improvised bombs, 406 detonators and more than 3,000 rounds of ammunition.
"We are still investigating the firearms we seized during the raid, but we believe that they originate from the southern Philippines since some of them (the militants) are trained there," said Adiwinoto.
Central Sulawesi governor Bandjela Paliudju expressed concern over the police tactics. "There are many other things which could have been done by the police to avoid victims on both sides. Why didn't they try persuasion?" The Jakarta Post quoted him as saying.
Provincial police chief Brigadier General Badroddin Haiti last week warned suspects to surrender their weapons or risk being shot on sight.
Police and residents have clashed several times in recent days in the area, where several suspects wanted over a series of anti-Christian attacks in Poso district are believed to be hiding.