The terrorist leader was killed along with another member of the group in the jungles of Sulawesi. (Representative)
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The leader of a terrorist network linked to ISIS in Indonesia was killed in an encounter with security forces. The police gave this information on Sunday.
East Indonesia Mujahideen (MIT) chief Ali Kalora was shot dead on Saturday along with another member, identified as Zaka Ramzan, in a jungle on the island of Sulawesi.
Police said they have started searching for four more MIT terrorists.
Central Sulawesi province police chief Rudy Sufhariadi said on Sunday: “We will continue to search until we find them.”
The weekend shelling comes two months after authorities killed two suspected members of the group in the same Parigi Moutong district, near the extremist hotbed of Poso district.
Designated a terrorist organization by the United States, MIT is one of dozens of groups in the Southeast Asian archipelago that have pledged allegiance to ISIS.
After hiding in the jungles of Sulawesi for years, the network is now estimated to have only a small number of members. But he has been accused of plotting several deadly attacks, including the most recent May killing of four farmers in a remote village – and allegedly beheading one.
Kalora took over the leadership of MIT after the country’s most wanted extremist Santoso was shot dead by soldiers in 2016.
Long-haired and gun-wielding, Santoso regularly appeared in videos urging people to launch attacks on security forces.
They also recruited members from abroad, including China’s mostly Muslim Uighur ethnic minority.
Indonesia suffered several terrorist attacks in the early 2000s, including the 2002 Bali bombings that killed more than 200 people, prompting authorities to launch an crackdown that weakened the most dangerous network.
But the country continues to grapple with terrorist groups and attacks.
In March, an ISIS-inspired Indonesian couple blew themselves up at a church in Makassar on the island of Sulawesi, killing themselves and injuring dozens.
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