Indonesia Retrieves Most-Wanted Militant’s Body From Jungle

FILEL: Police officers escort suspected militant Zulkarnaen, center, who is also known as Aris Sumarsono, upon arrival at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Indonesia, Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2020.  (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)
FILEL: Police officers escort suspected militant Zulkarnaen, center, who is also known as Aris Sumarsono, upon arrival at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Indonesia, Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2020. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)
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Indonesia Retrieves Most-Wanted Militant’s Body From Jungle

FILEL: Police officers escort suspected militant Zulkarnaen, center, who is also known as Aris Sumarsono, upon arrival at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Indonesia, Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2020.  (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)
FILEL: Police officers escort suspected militant Zulkarnaen, center, who is also known as Aris Sumarsono, upon arrival at Soekarno-Hatta International Airport in Tangerang, Indonesia, Wednesday, Dec. 16, 2020. (AP Photo/Achmad Ibrahim)

The bodies of Indonesia’s most wanted militant with ties to ISIS group and a follower, who were killed in a jungle shootout with security forces, were evacuated early Sunday to a police hospital for further investigation, police said.

The military earlier said the militants killed late Saturday were Ali Kalora, leader of the East Indonesia Mujahideen network that has claimed several killings of police officers and minority Christians, and another suspected extremist, Jaka Ramadan, also known as Ikrima.

The two men were fatally shot by a joint team of military and police officers in Central Sulawesi province’s mountainous Parigi Moutong district. It borders Poso district, considered an extremist hotbed in the province.

Several pictures obtained by The Associated Press from authorities showed an M16 rifle and backpacks laid near their bloodied bodies. The Central Sulawesi Police Chief Rudy Sufahriadi told a news conference on Sunday that security forces also seized two ready-to-use bombs from their backpacks, which also contained food and camping tools.

He said the bodies of Kalora and his follower have been evacuated to a police hospital in Palu, the provincial capital, after the rugged terrain and darkness hampered earlier evacuation efforts from the scene of the shootout in the forested village of Astina.

“We urged the other four wanted terrorists to immediately surrender and dare to take responsibility for their actions before the law,” said Sufahriadi, referring to remaining members of the East Indonesia Mujahideen who are still at large in the jungle on Sulawesi island.

The militant group pledged allegiance to ISIS in 2014, and Indonesia has intensified its security operations in the area in recent months to try to capture its members, particularly the leader, Kalora.

Two months ago, security forces killed two suspected members in a raid in the same mountainous district, several days after authorities claimed that Kalora and three group members planned to surrender. The surrender was reportedly cancelled after other members rejected the plan.

Kalora had eluded capture for more than a decade. He took over leadership of the group from Abu Wardah Santoso, who was killed by security forces in July 2016. Dozens of other leaders and members have been killed or captured since then.



6 Presumed Dead after Private Plane Crashes in Upstate New York

A New York Police Department scuba team looks for debris, Friday, April 11, 2025, where a sightseeing helicopter crashed a day earlier into the Hudson River in Jersey City, N.J. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
A New York Police Department scuba team looks for debris, Friday, April 11, 2025, where a sightseeing helicopter crashed a day earlier into the Hudson River in Jersey City, N.J. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
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6 Presumed Dead after Private Plane Crashes in Upstate New York

A New York Police Department scuba team looks for debris, Friday, April 11, 2025, where a sightseeing helicopter crashed a day earlier into the Hudson River in Jersey City, N.J. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
A New York Police Department scuba team looks for debris, Friday, April 11, 2025, where a sightseeing helicopter crashed a day earlier into the Hudson River in Jersey City, N.J. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

A twin-engine plane that crashed into a muddy field in upstate New York has left all six passengers aboard presumed dead.
The plane, a Mitsubishi MU-2B, was reported down at noon on Saturday in Copake, New York, around 30 miles (48 kilometers) from its destination at the Columbia County Airport, The Associated Press reported.
All six people who were aboard the plane were presumed dead, according to an official familiar with the crash, who could not discuss details of the investigation publicly and spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity.
Columbia County Undersheriff Jacqueline Salvatore on Saturday confirmed the crash was fatal but declined to reveal how many people died.
“It’s in the middle of a field and it’s pretty muddy, so accessibility is difficult,” Salvatore said during a news conference near the scene, about 50 miles (80 kilometers) south of Albany.
The National Transportation Safety Board said it had deployed an investigation team. They were expected to provide additional details about the investigation Sunday afternoon.