Indonesia’s Poso: Daesh’s destination to centralize in heart of Asia

Doaa Imam

Two days ago, some elements of the Daesh organization called for the execution of operations in the city of Poso in the Indonesian province of Sulawesi where the Mujahideen group of East Indonesia, led by Santoso, is active.

A time of extremism

Poso was not new with threats or terrorist operations. The city has known sectarian conflicts for years. In 2000, there was a conflict between Muslims and Christians, and a party (later revealed by the Indonesian authorities) was fanning the flames. The conflict spread a fierce ideology in the city. This party is Santoso, who is the founder of the Mujahideen of Indonesia.

The two-year sectarian conflict continued, with terrorist groups exploiting events, escalating clashes, and then concluding a 2002 agreement to stop all forms of violence, disarm armed militias, form joint security patrols of Muslims and Christians, and assert the rule of law without prejudice.

Abu Wardah and the Mujahideen of eastern Indonesia

The Mujahideen of East Indonesia is a group with multiple roles in smuggling, extortion, murder, and other criminal acts under the pretense of “Jihad for the Islamic Caliphate,” founded by Abu Wardah Santoso in the mountains of Indonesia’s eastern Sulawesi Island.

It gave allegiance to Daesh in 2014 and is responsible for the murders of police officers in the area.

Since the announcement of its allegiance  to Daesh, the Indonesian authorities stepped up the search for the leader of the Mujahideen of eastern Indonesia, considering him the required number one, and took search in the forests and bush of the city of Poso for nearly two years.

In the wake of the terrorist attack in Jakarta in early 2016, which killed four people and injured 25 others (adopted by the Daash organization), the Indonesian government tightened its security measures, as did the army and police alliance in a joint operation known as Operation Tinumbala.

The search for the first wanted man, Abu Wardah, continued through 1800 individuals, representing the Indonesian land and sea forces, who targeted his arrest along with supporters of the group entering and leaving Poso. The forces of the Tinyumbala operation succeeded in liquidating a number of armed men and some of Santoso’s assistants.

In July 2016, the Indonesian police succeeded in killing Abu Wardah, whom the authorities said was the symbolic heart of the jihadi movement in Indonesia. He also established a powerful terrorist network that trained more than 100 Indonesians to fight and was behind the conflict between Christianity and Islam. Poso was destroyed in 2001.