The Terror Stops Here
Elite Densus 88 Anti-Terror Squad Kills 5 Men in Bali Raids
(3/18/2012)
A detachment of Indonesia’s elite Densus “88” Anti-Terrorist Squad from the national police headquarters have shot dead five men in two separate raids in Sanur and nearby Denpasar in the early evening hours of Sunday night, March 18, 2012.
According to the National News Agency Antara, a police spokesman in Jakarta has confirmed the two raids took place at the Laksmi Bungalow on Jalan Danau Poso 88 in Sanur and a second location on Jalan Gunung Soputan in downtown Denpasar. The spokesman told the press that the men who were shot were sought by police in connection with the robbery of a CIMB Bank branch in Medan.
The men shot by police hail from Bandung (West Java), Makassar (South Sulawesi) and Jimbaran (Bali).
The police raid in Sanur occurred at the commercial bungalow located in a densely populated area on Jalan Danau Poso Sanur where three men were shot in a gun battle with police. Meanwhile, the police shot the two men on the same evening on Jalan Gunung Soputan at a location not far from the New Star Café. In the Denpasar gunfight, police were reportedly involved in a brief chase and gunfight with four men, with two managing to escape on motorcycles.
Police claim the five men shot in the two separate locations were member of a single terrorist cell. The men are said by police to have been in Bali since February.
Prior to the gun battle, the men were under surveillance by police. Police say the group had surveyed a gold store in Uluwatu, a money changing office and a Café. Police believe the men were preparing to rob these locations.
Police confiscated two FN make pistols, two magazines of ammunition, 48- 9 mm caliber bullets and facemasks.