Police Chief: Helicopter crash was not due to terrorist attack
21 March 2016 13:12 WIB
TEMPO.CO, Jakarta - Chief of the National Police Gen. Badrodin Haiti, said that the Indonesian National Army (TNI) helicopter crash that occurred in Poso on Sunday, March 20, 2016, was not due to terrorist attack. "It was not an attack, [the helicopter] was not flying above attack-prone areas," Badrodin said on Monday, March 21, 2016. The helicopter crashed while flying close to a residential area and attempting to approach an airport.
On Sunday, March 20, 2016, Maj. Gen. Tatang Sulaiman, Chief of the TNI Information Center said that he could not confirm the exact cause of the crash. "I cannot make a an assumption, we will wait for the investigation result," Tatang said on Sunday, March 20, 2016.
The soldiers aboard the crashed helicopter were members of the Tinombala Operation, an operation carried out to eradicate the Santoso terrorist group, suspected to be hiding in the Baru mountain regions in Poso.
The helicopter crashed while flying above the Kasiguncu sub-district in Poso Regency at 5:55 PM Western Indonesia Time on Sunday, March 20, 2016, just 35 minutes after taking off. Currently, investigators suspected that the crash was due to weather factor. The crash kills 13 TNI soldiers aboard the helicopter.
ARIEF HIDAYAT | MAWARDAH NUR HANIFIYANI
