Jakarta. Two men believed to be involved in a deadly bank robbery in Medan last month were gunned down on Sunday, bringing the number of suspects in the terrorism-related crime killed over the weekend to six.
National Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Marwoto Soeto said the two were shot dead during a sweep of the Dolok Masihul area of North Sumatra’s Serdang Bedagai district on Sunday morning.
Police said one of the suspects was killed as he tried to throw a hand grenade at the officers. The search for other members of the gang continued into the night.
The manhunt started on Thursday night on a rubber plantation just outside of Tebing Tinggi when villagers become suspicious of a group of 16 men on motorcycles carrying bags that appeared to contain firearms.
The police confronted the men, who fled in three different groups. About 400 officers were then deployed to hunt them down.
Four members of the gang, including its alleged leader, were killed in another gun battle early on Saturday. A member of the Mobile Brigade (Brimob) police paramilitary unit was wounded in the encounter.
Three suspects were arrested on Saturday and one gang member surrendered to residents on Sunday before being handed over to police.
Police have said the armed group was linked to the Aug. 18 holdup on the CIMB Niaga bank in Medan that left a policeman dead and two security guards injured.
North Sumatra Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Baharuddin Djafar identified the men killed on Sunday as Romeo and Delta and said their bodies had been taken to the police hospital in Medan.
“A clash with the group erupted about 11 a.m. and the two were shot,” Baharuddin said.
Police seized an unspecified number of AK-47 automatic rifles, two M-16 rifles and two FN revolvers, as well as 700 rounds of ammunition after the fight.
The two men wounded on Saturday were identified as Robi and Awar Dedi, while the dead men were identified as Taufik Hidayat, whom police said led the Medan heist, Zulkarnai, Dedi and Fauzi, aka Ozi.
“Police are continuing to search the area to flush out other members of the group,” Marwoto said. “We are now trying to catch seven more people on our wanted list.”
North Sumatra Police Chief Insp. Gen. Oegroseno reportedly said that officers were also searching for suspects in the Simalungun district.
Police have said that the CIMB Niaga bank heist and a series of other robberies on banks, Internet cafes and a money changer in Medan had been intended to finance the operations of a militant group caught training in a forested area in the neighboring province of Aceh in November.
The group is also said to be behind the attack on the Hamparan Perak Police station near Medan on Sept. 22 that left three officers dead.
At least 50 suspected members of the Al Qaeda-linked Aceh group have been arrested and several more have been killed in police raids since then the training camp was destroyed by police in February.
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