National

Indonesia ends jail siege by terrorist prisoners

Jumat, 11 Mei 2018 | 18:04 WIB

Jakarta, NU Online
A hostage crisis inside a maximum security jail in Indonesia ended after Islamist militant prisoners who "sadistically" killed five police officers surrendered and released an officer they were holding, authorities said.

As reported by independent.co.uk, officials said the 36-hour standoff that ended with five members of an elite counter-terrorism force dead was an "act of terror".

The riot broke out at the Mako Brimob detention facility in Depok, on the outskirts of Jakarta, on Tuesday evening. A sixth person, a prison inmate, also died.

General Syafruddin, a deputy police commissioner, said the operation had finished and there were no further casualties with all the inmates surrendered.

The majority of the officers, who were members of Indonesia's elite Densus 88, had their throats cut, police said.

More than 150 prisoners were involved in the fatal riot, in which inmates had armed themselves with around 30 weapons, including long-range rifles, taken from officers and a storage area in the jail for weapons confiscated during police operations.

Indonesian president Joko Widodo thanked security forces for their efforts in containing the crisis. (Masdar)