Indonesia decided to continue pursuing fugitive Muslim militants in troubled Poso of Central Sulawesi, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said Thursday.

"The president said the operation to enforce law and to pursue the wanted militants was continuously conducted," Coordinating Minister for Politics, Law and Security Widodo Adi Sucipto told a press conference after a security meeting led by president Susilo at the State Palace.

Over 200 soldiers in the province were dispatched on Thursday to help police restore security and to captured the militants, following the sending of over 200 policemen from Jakarta to the province, Indonesian Military Commander Chief Air Marshal DJoko Soeyanto said.

Eleven of the 29 wanted militants have been detained, but the others and scores of their armed-supporters have escaped from police hunt earlier this week, the provincial police chief, Brig. General Badrodin Haiti, said.

Minister Widodo revealed that after the hunt, the police found six weapons, 24 hand-made guns, over 3,500 ammunitions, 414 detonators, 21 hand-made bombs and scores of magazines.

Head of the Indonesian Intelligence Board Syamsir Siregar confirmed the presence of the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) in the province.

"There is (JI) in the province, we have just found one (of its members)," he told reporters after the meeting.

Earlier Indonesian police spokesman Anton Bachrul Alam said that a 40-year militant named only Ryan alias Abdul Hakim, who was shot dead in a raid earlier this month, was a senior member of the JI.

Recently, scores of blasts and shootings erupted in the town of Poso, convincing the police that there are still many weapons illegally possessed by the people in the town, police spokesman has said.

Last week, police in the province issued a warning to shoot on site provocateur of violence or illegally possessing weapons, Poso police chief Rudi Suparyadi said.

In September last year, Indonesia executed three Christians for conviction of triggering mob into a sectarian violence in 2000 in Poso.

Scores of blasts had occurred in some spots of Poso before and after the executions of the three Christians, but no casualty reported.

Over 87 percent of Indonesia's 240 million populations is Muslim, but in some areas of eastern part of the country, the proportion of Muslims and Christians is equal.

Source: Xinhua