WATCHDOG URGES POLICE TO STOP KILLING TERROR SUSPECTS

Jakarta, March 11 (ANTARA) - The Indonesian Police Watch (IPW) has urged Indonesian Police Chief General Bambang Hendarso Danuri to stop shooting dead terror suspects with an excuse of fighting back.

"I wonder why they always had to shoot to death. Why weren't they arrested alive," IPW Presidium Neta S Pane said here on Thursday.

When the national police was led by Dai Bachtiar, terror suspects were rarely shot dead, unlike at present, the police's Special Anti-terror Detachment 88 force (Densus) often shot suspected terrorists to death, he said.

"Yesterday, Dulmatin and two other suspects were shot to death. The police should have arrested them alive so that we could hear their testimony at court," he said.

Dulmatin was alone and only carried a revolver, while the number of Densus personnel was quite plenty and well armed.

Besides, Dulmatin only had six bullets or 12 maximum, and it was not an excuse to kill him, there should be a way to arrest him alive, he said.

Neta also condemned the police for murdering two colleagues of Dulmatin while they were riding a bicycle.

There was an impression that the Densus personnel immediately shot them even at a slightest move, while the suspects might just shock when they saw police personnel and they did not have intention to fight back, he said.

The shooting deaths had also occurred when Densus 88 had raided suspected terrorists in Bekasi, Temanggung, and Solo in relation with the bombings of Marriott and Ritz-Carlton hotels in Jakarta, he said.

"When they were dead, the police as well as the public fail to get further information from them in court," he said.

He urged the present police chief to follow the steps of the then police chief Dai Bachtiar who had successfully arrested Amrozi and Iman Samudra alive. Both had been involved in the Bali bombings.

The IPW chairman said the strategy of the current Densus personnel could become bad precedent for the national police and must be stopped before being copied by the intelligence agents.