Jakarta – A group of soldiers allegedly mobbed a traffic policeman after he tried to warn a military man for riding in the busway lane on Jl. Daan Mogot, West Jakarta, on Tuesday morning.

First Insp. Sulardi of the Traffic Division at the City Police confirmed the fight. Sulardi said his subordinate, Second Brig. Julius Matondang, who was managing traffic on the busy road, tried to stop First Pvt. Adil Nainggolan, a soldier in the army, while he drove through the busway lane on his motorcycle.

"But Adil refused to slow down. He came off his motorcycle when his bike hit Julius' hand. When Julius helped him get up, he tried to attack Julius with his knife," Sulardi said.

Five other soldiers passing by allegedly joined in and attacked Julius, who was alone that morning. "(The attack) was not right and we want to follow this case up legally," Sulardi said.

Julius, who felt nauseous and vomited after the incident, was brought to a nearby hospital by motorists and was later moved to Sukanto Police Hospital in Kramat Jati, East Jakarta, for further treatment, Sulardi said.

The head of the Jakarta Military Command, Col. Iran Saefudin, denied that Adil had attacked Julius. "Adil did not hit the police officer. We have checked and questioned him," he said.

According to Iran, Adil entered the busway lane with other motorists because the street was heavily congested.

"When Adil was about to get out of the lane, Julius tried to hold the handle of Adil's motorbike to stop him. Julius then kicked the motorbike. As a result, Adil fell with his motorcycle (and) his chin hit the road," Iran explained.

Iran said Julius ran away from the accident after he found out that Adil was a soldier, but Adil chased him and found the policeman hiding in the bathroom of a nearby discotheque. He then asked Julius to go back to crash site, Iran said.

According to Iran, not long after the incident, several soldiers who heard about the incident came and attacked Julius. Iran said his office was still investigating the incident.