Indonesian soldiers kill four police in attack
( 2002-09-30 14:58 ) (7 )

Around 100 Indonesian soldiers attacked a police post on Sumatra on Monday using rifles and grenades, killing at least four police officers in a raid police described by police as "horrific".

"The situation is out of control. Four were killed including three mobile brigade personnel and one police officer. They were shot mostly in the chest," Amrin Karim, a police spokesman in the nearby North Sumatra provincial capital, Medan, told Reuters.

Karim said 15 police were wounded in the early morning attack at Binjai town, near the troubled province of Aceh and around 1,500 km northwest of the capital Jakarta.

"They used rifles, grenades and the compound was burned to the ground. It's horrific," he said, adding police were now searching for the attackers.

Karim gave no reason for the attack but one local reporter said it was sparked by the police arresting a soldier for suspected drug offences. The reporter said seven police were killed.

Indonesia's military condemned the incident.

"This is a disgraceful act. I've informed the armed forces in Jakarta to fire soldiers who acted beyond their authority," regional military chief Idris Gassing told reporters in Medan, 30 km from Binjai.

Residents in Binjai told Reuters the town was tense on Monday with most residents staying off the streets and many shops closed.

The incident underscores poor discipline among the branches of Indonesia's security forces in the field. In conflict zones, there are occasional armed clashes between police and soldiers, often over petty disputes.

Karim said one of the wounded was the mobile brigade chief for North Sumatra, who was shot in the back and leg.

The mobile brigade is an elite unit of police, generally used for civil disturbances and for dispatch to conflict areas.

There was an earlier, less severe, attack on the police post on Saturday night. It was unclear when the soldier was arrested.