MILY READY TO HELP POLICE CATCH TERROR SUSPECTS IN ACEH

Aceh Besar, March 16 (ANTARA) - Iskandar Muda military commander Maj Gen Hambali Hanafiah said the military (TNI) had prepared one company of its anti-terror forces to assist the police in hunting terror suspects in Aceh.

"We will provide a special forces unit. If the police need our help, we are ready to oblige. But so far the police have not made a request for assistance," Hambali said at the Leupung police precinct, Aceh Besar district, on Tuesday.

Hanafiah made the statement when accompanying National Police Chief Gen Bambang Hendarso Danuri on the latter's visit to the location of a shootout between police and a suspected terrorist group on Friday (March 12).

Two suspected terrorists died in the skirmish and the other eight were arrested.

The suspected terrorists were trying to break through a security forces checkpoint in a hired L-300 lic minibus on the road between Banda Aceh and Calang on the coast of Aceh Barat district.

Hambali said, TNI and the national police continue to coordinate and work together to hunt the radical armed groups in Aceh.

"The recent capture of armed group members in Leupung was made possible by military intelligence information," Hambali said.

Meanwhile, National Police Chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri expressed appreciation to the local police personnel as well as to
the Leupung Military Resort Command (Koramil) chief and his personnel due to their responsive stance over the information on the most wanted group.

"The on-duty police and TNI personnel in Leupung deserve high appreciation for their performance in catching members of the Jakarta terror group who were long wanted for a series of suicide bombings in Indonesia," the national police chief said.

The chasing operation against the suspected terrorist groups in Aceh has lasted three weeks now with six people killed , namely three policemen and three terror suspects. Meanwhile, 24 terror suspects were arrested.