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.



Danish Leader Tells the US ‘You Cannot Annex Another Country’ as She Visits Greenland

Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland's acting head of government Mute Bourup Egede attend a press conference aboard the Danish Navy inspection vessel Vaedderen, in the waters around Nuuk, Greenland, April 3, 2025. (Reuters)
Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland's acting head of government Mute Bourup Egede attend a press conference aboard the Danish Navy inspection vessel Vaedderen, in the waters around Nuuk, Greenland, April 3, 2025. (Reuters)
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Danish Leader Tells the US ‘You Cannot Annex Another Country’ as She Visits Greenland

Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland's acting head of government Mute Bourup Egede attend a press conference aboard the Danish Navy inspection vessel Vaedderen, in the waters around Nuuk, Greenland, April 3, 2025. (Reuters)
Denmark's Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen and Greenland's acting head of government Mute Bourup Egede attend a press conference aboard the Danish Navy inspection vessel Vaedderen, in the waters around Nuuk, Greenland, April 3, 2025. (Reuters)

Denmark's prime minister has told the US during a visit to Greenland that “you cannot annex another country,” even with the argument that international security is at stake.

US Secretary of State Marco Rubio, meanwhile, said on Friday that Washington will respect Greenland's self-determination and Copenhagen “should focus on the fact that the Greenlanders don’t want to be a part of Denmark.”

Danish Prime Minister Mette Frederiksen was wrapping up a three-day visit to the strategically critical Arctic island on Friday as US President Donald Trump seeks control of Greenland. He argues that Greenland, a semiautonomous territory belonging to the Kingdom of Denmark, is critical to US security.

A week ago, Vice President JD Vance visited a remote US military base in Greenland and accused Denmark of underinvesting in the territory.

Frederiksen pushed back against the US criticism as she spoke on Thursday alongside Greenland's incoming and outgoing leaders on board a Danish naval ship. She argued that Denmark, a NATO ally, has been a reliable friend.

Speaking in English, she said that “if we let ourselves be divided as allies, then we do our foes a favor. And I will do everything that I can to prevent that from happening.”

“When you ask our businesses to invest in the US, they do. When you ask us to spend more on our defense, we do; and when you ask of us to strengthen security in the Arctic, we are on the same page,” she said.

“But when you demand to take over a part of the Kingdom of Denmark’s territory, when we are met by pressure and by threats from our closest ally, what are we to believe in about the country that we have admired for so many years?”

“This is about the world order that we have built together across the Atlantic over generations: you cannot annex another country, not even with an argument about international security,” Frederiksen said.

The Danish leader said that, if the US wants to strengthen security in the Arctic, “let us do so together.”

Political parties in Greenland, which has been leaning toward eventual independence from Denmark for years, last week agreed to form a broad-based new coalition government in the face of Trump's designs on the territory. Those have angered many in Greenland and Denmark.

In an interview with Newsmax on Thursday, Vance repeated the accusation that Denmark has “really underinvested in the infrastructure and security of Greenland.”

He said Trump's point is that “this matters to our security, this matters to our missile defense, and we're going to protect America's interests come hell or high water.”

Danish Foreign Minister Lars Løkke Rasmussen, who was attending a meeting in Brussels with his NATO counterparts, wrote on social network X that he had an “honest and direct” meeting Thursday with Rubio.

“I made it crystal clear that claims and statements about annexing Greenland are not only unacceptable and disrespectful,” Løkke Rasmussen wrote. “They amount to a violation of international law.”

Rubio told reporters in Brussels Friday that “no one's annexed anything.” He added that Vance has made clear that “he's going to respect the self-determination of Greenlanders.”

“Denmark should focus on the fact that the Greenlanders don’t want to be a part of Denmark," Rubio said.

“We didn’t give them that idea. They’ve been talking about that for a long time,” he said. "Whenever they make that decision, they’ll make that decision.”

“If they make that decision, then the United States would stand ready, potentially, to step in and say, okay, we can create a partnership with you," Rubio said, adding that "we’re not at that stage.”