24 March 2016•Update: 28 March 2016
By Ainur Rohmah
TUBAN, Indonesia
Months after Indonesian authorities launched a manhunt for a Daesh-linked group led by the country's most wanted man, one of its members has told police that many in the outfit no longer believe in its leader.
On Thursday, Detik.com quoted Central Sulawasi’s police chief, Brig. Gen. Pol Rudy Sufahriadi, as saying that a 19-year-old found starving in a village in central Sulawesi island had escaped from the East Indonesia Mujahideen.
"He escaped from the terrorist group as he decided that [Abu Wardah] Santoso was not fit to be a leading figure in the movement of jihad in Poso [town]," Sufahriadi said.
"After joining the group, he realized that Santoso's knowledge of Islam was very weak, and he tended to deviate from its teachings."
Since January, Indonesia has been conducting a massive manhunt for Santoso and around 30 of his followers who are believed to be hiding in the jungles of Poso, in Central Sulawesi province.
The military operation -- Tinombala -- involves a combined force of more than 2,000 army and police personnel.
The man -- identified by police as MAQ -- was arrested Monday at a local resident's home after escaping from his group in Wuasa village, North Lore District, and begging for food.
Sufahriadi said that he told police that he had joined the group last year, and was one of several members who had problems with its beheading of civilians.
In Sept. 2015, the group beheaded three farmers, not long after police shot dead one of its members.
"This has led to a debate among members of the group," Sufahriadi said. "There were some members who opposed this so [they] chose to flee."
Santoso is reported to have issued a fatwa -- or edict -- stating that members who try to escape can be classified as apostate, and should therefore be killed.
Last week, police found the decomposing body of a man presumed to be an East Indonesia Mujahideen member on a riverbank, who they suspect was killed by Santoso or his men.
Sufahriadi said that the 19-year-old being held by police has said that after three months of hiding, the group has almost run out of food and weapons, which are usually supplied by sympathizers in nearby towns.
"Now they rely on the food from the woods, such as eating Anoa [small buffalo], eel and plants."
Since the Jan. 14 terrorist attack in central Jakarta -- in which four civilians were killed and another 25 injured -- the government has tightened security and focused its operation to catch Santoso.
Earlier this week, the United States included Santoso on its list of Specially Designated Global Terrorists.
Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for Political, Legal and Security Affairs has said, however, that Indonesia is not planning on involving the U.S. in its hunt.
"We can do it ourselves," Kompas.com quoted Luhut Binsar Panjaitan as saying.
