The raid secured the release of the police hostage and no further casualties were reported |
A hostage crisis involving Islamist prisoners at a high-security jail outside Jakarta has been resolved nearly two days after a deadly riot broke out at the prison, Indonesian officials said Thursday.
Hundreds of
police and armoured vehicles were deployed to rescue a police officer taken
hostage by inmates after chaos erupted late Tuesday at the facility inside the
Mobile Police Brigade headquarters in Depok, leaving five officers and an
inmate dead.
In the
pre-dawn operation, 145 prisoners "surrendered unconditionally" and
the hostage was released with no further casualties reported, said Chief
Security Minister Wiranto, who like many Indonesians goes by one name.
Another ten
inmates holding out against police later surrendered after tear gas was used,
according to Wiranto.
Several
blasts heard near the prison on Thursday morning were caused by police
destroying home-made bombs created by the prisoners, police said.
Rioting
broke out after several prisoners demanded they be given food sent to them by
their families and managed to grab some of their jailers' firearms in the
ensuing fracas.
Some of the
inmates involved in the clashes were Islamist militants jailed on
terror-related charges, according to police.
Five
officers and an inmate were killed in the deadly riot
|
The Islamic
State group was quick to claim responsibility for the riot through its Amaq
News Agency, but authorities rejected that claim.
Among the
facility's prisoners is Aman Abdurrahman, an Islamic radical jailed for
orchestrating an attack in Jakarta in 2016 that left eight people dead.
Former
Jakarta governor Basuki Tjahaja Purnama, who was jailed for two years for
blasphemy after losing a re-election bid, is also held in the jail.
Abdurrahman
and Purnama, better known as Ahok, are not housed in the part of the prison
where the riot broke out.
Indonesia's
overcrowded prisons are notorious for their poor conditions and outbreaks of
violence.
Two years
ago, nearly 500 inmates broke out from a prison after complaining about
overcrowding and extortion.
Hostage crisis at Indonesian high-security jail finally over 2 days after riot killed 5 policemen and inmates took 1 officer captive https://t.co/tcWCWfTKKc pic.twitter.com/oR5yzjc2Li— AFP news agency (@AFP) May 10, 2018
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