REPUBLIKA.CO.ID, POSO -- The forest area in Poso district, Central Sulawesi province, has been cleared of Santoso-led terror suspects who used to hide in the region, a military commander said.

"We found all the places where they used to train and hide when the Swift Reaction Strike Unit (PPRC) in Poso conducted a battle exercise in the coastal area in the last three weeks," Commander of the District Strategic Command's Division II Major General Bambang Haryanto stated here on Friday.

Thousands of military, army, naval and air force officers joined a war exercise carried out at the top of the mountainous area, believed to be the hideout of the terror suspects. There, they spotted one such hiding place, he noted.

"I am sure the troublemakers left their training sites before the Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) began their battle exercise on March 31," Haryanto remarked.

Even though the exercise was not meant to hunt terror suspects, the commander added that every officer was told to take stern action if they spotted them.

Moreover, he urged the local community to report to security officers if they had knowledge about the whereabouts of the terror suspects.

Haryanto also asked those who used to supply logistics to them to stop the practice.

"In reality, it will not be too difficult to crush the terrorists if local people agree and dare to report their presence and do not provide them with any support, including the delivery of logistics," he pointed out.

He also urged the terror suspects to surrender and return to regular activities in the community.

Parts of Poso had been transformed into a battlefield as some 3.2 thousand Indonesian military officers of the PPRC joined a massive military exercise against terrorists from late March till mid April.

As many as 20 wanted terror suspects were believed to be hiding in the forests of Poso. They keep relocating from one forest hill to another, covering an area of around 40 square kilometers.

The military and police claimed that they had cornered the Santoso-led terror suspects in Poso, and that they had even killed two of the suspects, identified by their names as Daeng Koro and Imam, recently.

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