Most of the police officers killed in a riot at the the National Police’s Mobile Brigade headquarters (Mako Brimob) detention center in Depok, West Java, had their throats cut, the police have revealed.
“Of our five dead fellow officers, the majority were killed by having their throats cut,” National Police spokesman Brig. Gen. Muhammad Iqbal told reporters on Wednesday evening in Jakarta.
“The wounds [on their necks] were very deep,” Iqbal added.
During the riot, which broke out on Tuesday night, several terrorist inmates at the detention center managed to seize weapons from police officers. At the time of writing, one other officer was reportedly still being held hostage and the Densus 88 antiterrorism squad was negotiating his release with the inmates. The police have not set any deadline in negotiating with the inmates.
A police report seen by The Jakarta Post shows that four of the dead officers had deep wounds to their necks. Only one victim was found to have a bullet wound to the head.
Asked whether this indicated that the riot had been coordinated by the Islamic State (IS) movement, police spokesman Insp. Gen. Setyo Wasisto declined to answer.
“We leave it to you to conclude if these [killings] were humane. But we are sticking to the rule of law, we are prioritizing negotiation [with the inmates],” Iqbal said. (swd)
