In a shoot-out in Sulawesi, Indonesian police killed an ISIL leader

[ASEAN NOW Content Team]

 

During a broad counterterrorism campaign in remote areas of the archipelago, Indonesian security officials believe they killed a hardline leader with ties to the ISIL (ISIS) group in a shoot-out on Saturday.

According to Central Sulawesi's regional military chief Brigadier General Farid Makruf, Ali Kalora of the East Indonesia Mujahideen (MIT) was slain in a village on eastern Sulawesi island late Saturday in a joint operation including military and police troops.

 

Makruf stated, "Ali Kalora was the most wanted terrorist and the leader of MIT."

According to authorities, another hardliner, Jaka Ramadhan, also known as Ikrima, was also shot dead, and four more members of the organisation were being sought.

 

There were also explosives, an M16 gun, and two machetes discovered.

For more than a decade, Kalora had escaped arrest.

After the assassination of MIT's former commander, Santoso, he took over as its new boss.
In 2014, MIT swore allegiance to ISIL.

 

The Sulawesi-based MIT organisation was unlikely to survive its leader's murder, according to Ridwan Habib, a terrorist analyst at the University of Indonesia, though he anticipated the group's members on the run would continue to battle security authorities.

“Death is a part of their worldview because they believe it will transport them to heaven.
They will seek death now that their commander is dead,” he told Reuters.
“I doubt there will be a re-establishment [of MIT] or the election of a new leader.”