A.N.D.O. Responsible for Bombing on Kreeling
Kreeling, Chommell Sector — An Ando-based terrorist organization has claimed responsibility for this week's bombing of a Republic cargo ship on the planet Kreeling. The so-called "Andoan National Dignity Organization" (A.N.D.O.) broadcast a message on the holonet today promising more bombings like the one on Kreeling, which killed three Republic crewmen and injured one bystander.
The Republic's Pelta-class frigate Armistice had landed on Kreeling to deliver medical supplies to a local medcenter, including a shipment of plasma from Naboo. It is believed that A.N.D.O. militants commandeered a small crane and used it to lift a proton torpedo smuggled into an adjacent cargo bay and drop it onto the Armistice. The explosion killed all three of the ship's crew and destroyed the ship and its cargo. No arrests have been made, but Republic Judicial Forces have issued inter-sector warrants for several Aqualish individuals seen on security holofootage and still believed to be in the Chommell Sector.
The individuals are considered "very dangerous."
A.N.D.O. is believed to be an organization of Aqualish militants who call for the planet Ando to secede from the Republic. Ando and its Aqualish inhabitants have had a troubled history with the Republic, from Ando's defeat in the Aqualish-Republic War of nearly 15,000 years ago to the more recent Ando Demilitarization Observation Group dispatched by the Senate to forcibly restrain Ando from acts of aggression against the other worlds of the Ando Sector. The Andoan government has accused Jedi Master Jorus C'baoth, one of the leaders of the Observation Group, of speciesism for referring to the Aqualish as "an inherently violent species."
Senator Po Nudo of Ando repudiated the bombing on Kreeling but added that many Aqualish are "sympathetic to [A.N.D.O.'s] goals, if not its means to achieve them." Indeed, opinion polls on Ando have consistently showed a majority in favor of secession from the Republic. Supreme Chancellor Palpatine has insisted that secession can only occur by mutual consent of both the Republic and the planet in question. The Senate, meanwhile, has passed multiple resolutions against Andoan independence, fearing a resumption of Andoan hostility against its neighbors.
Today, The Coruscant Journal quoted Jedi Master Mace Windu as saying that the Jedi Council would consider at its next meeting whether to dispatch Jedi to help find and apprehend the suspects believed responsible for the bombing on Kreeling. In the meantime, anyone who encounters the suspects is urged to contact Judicial Forces immediately. Footage of the suspects has been made available on the holonet.
