Indra Harsaputra and Wahyoe Boediwardhana, Surabaya/Malang – The marines on Monday defended the actions of soldiers involved in a shooting in Alas Tlogo village in Pasuruan, East Java, at the end of May that left four residents dead.

Marine Corps commander Maj. Gen. Nono Sampono said the 13 marines who have been named as suspects in the case were absolutely correct in opening fire on residents protesting over a plot of disputed land that is claimed by the Navy.

He said the marines performed their duties professionally and should receive all possible legal support.

"They are trained men and have families to fend for. Most of them have the rank private first class and are quite experienced in deciding on situations in the field," Nono said in Surabaya on Monday.

"It's impossible they did anything stupid like shooting residents when they were not in a situation where their lives were threatened. I regret that some people who are not aware of technical military terms have said things about the case that are not according to the facts."

To back their claims they only opened fire because they felt their lives were being threatened by stone-throwing protesters, five of the 13 marine suspects have filed a police complaint against residents. In it they claim they sustained various injuries from the rocks hurled at them, as well as slash wounds.

Nono also said his men did not fire directly at residents, as claimed by several witnesses and activists from legal aid groups. "The targets would have sustained much more severe injuries if they had been fired upon directly and the number of victims would have been higher."

But Nono said the marines would carry out their own investigation into the shooting. "If you want to know whether this case will be handed over to a civilian court, just ask the (Indonesian Military) commander," he said.

A researcher on land dispute cases involving the military at Airlangga University in Surabaya, Raden Herlambang Perdana Wiratraman, said it was unlikely Alas Tlogo villagers provoked the shooting by attacking the marines.

He said in these types of land dispute cases residents generally pursued the matter through the courts, not through violence.

In Malang, also in East Java, Choirul Anwar, 3, who was shot in the Alas Tlogo violence, underwent successful surgery Monday to remove a bullet lodged in his body. The surgery was performed by a team of doctors at Saiful Anwar Hospital.

The four-member surgical team, headed by Dr. Subagyo, needed more than five hours to recover all of the pieces of the bullet. "The patient is in stable condition and can return home in the next three days. We were able to retrieve every bit of shrapnel," said Subagyo. He said the boy's injuries were not life-threatening because the bullet had missed all of his vital organs.

Later in the day, doctors performed surgery on another shooting victim, Herwanto, 27. They had to remove a section of his intestine as a result of infection. "We will also remove bullet fragments from his hip after his condition improves after the operation," said Subagyo.

Earlier, marine commander Nono visited injured victims at the hospital. He was accompanied by the hospital's vice director, Respati Drajad, during a visit with Herwanto, who was being prepped for surgery.

"The bullets did not directly enter the victims' bodies, but they grazed other objects first, then shattered into bits and entered the bodies, as seen by the bits of shrapnel found inside the victims' bodies," he said.

"I'm not trying to jump the legal process, but based on the available analysis, the bullets rebounded off other objects before entering the victims' bodies."