Jakarta – The Jakarta Police have said that a preliminary investigation into an attack at a police post near the National Police headquarters has revealed that military personnel might be behind the attack.

Spokesman Sr. Comr. Rikwanto said on Monday that the police had questioned five eyewitnesses of an attack at a police post on Jl. Trunojoyo in South Jakarta, just a few meters away from police headquarters, but had yet to make any arrests.

He said that the Trunojoyo attack, which took place at around 1:30 a.m. on Sunday, had involved dozens of people riding on motorcycles who threw stones at the police post, damaging its windows. Shattered glass injured four of the five witnesses, who were street vendors, he said.

He said the perpetrators also attacked a police post near the Senayan traffic circle in South Jakarta. The traffic circle is about 500 meters to the north of police headquarters. Rikwanto said that according to eyewitnesses, the perpetrators had crew cuts like military personnel.

"If indications lead to the alleged involvement of some oknum [members] of the Indonesian Military [TNI] or National Police, we will involve those parties in the investigation," he said. Oknum is a term often associated with state officials, including TNI and police personnel.

Rikwanto said that according to the preliminary investigation, the incident was related to a scuffle between two motorcyclists and two traffic police officers at an intersection in Kuningan, South Jakarta just a few hours earlier, at about 9:30 p.m. last Saturday.

The scuffle occurred after the motorcyclists disobeyed the police's instruction to stop to make way for Vice President Boediono's convoy. After the altercation ended, the riders said that they were offended and that they would come back with members of their squad, he said. "The two motorcyclists had crew cuts, wore shorts and were rude," he said. "Neither were wearing helmets."

Rikwanto explained that later on, at 11 p.m., traffic police officers patrolling in Setiabudi, Central Jakarta, saw at least 20 motorcyclists surrounding an Avanza car. As the policemen got closer to see what was going on, the motorcyclists starting throwing rocks at the policemen's car. The policemen then dispersed them by firing warning shots.

Military and police personnel have frequently gotten into altercations, mostly when military personnel try to dodge regulations.

Rikwanto said that the Trunojoyo and Setiabudi incidents were not connected to the Transjakarta bus shooting that took place in Pancoran at 11 p.m. on Sunday. The bus was shot at on its left side, leaving bullet holes on its body and broken windows.

He said the police had questioned the bus driver, Jonni Marasih Siregar, as a witness, but had yet to identify the shooter due to a lack of evidence.

The investigators, he said, had concluded that the shooter was the same person who fired shots at the Transjakarta bus stop on Jl. Otto Iskandar Dinata in East Jakarta in August 2012. (ask)