14 killed as violence continues in Aceh<\/p>\n
BANDA ACEH, Aceh (JP): Despite peace efforts by the government
\nand Free Aceh Movement (GAM), at least 14 people were killed in
\nAceh in the latest outbreak of violence on Thursday and Friday,
\nreports said.<\/p>\n
Security forces were reportedly launching an intensive search
\nahead of Indonesia's Independence Day on Aug. 17, targeting sites
\nbelieved to be bases for separatist rebels.<\/p>\n
Indonesian Military (TNI) spokesman in Aceh Besar Maj. Eddi
\nSulistiadi said on Friday that four GAM members were killed
\nduring a 20-minute shootout between military\/police troops and
\nGAM members in the village of Sieung in Kotabaru district on
\nFriday.<\/p>\n
On Thursday night an ambush in the village of Siem, Darussalam
\ndistrict, also in Aceh Besar, resulted in the death of one GAM
\nmember, identified as Taufik, Maj. Sudarsono, a local police
\nspokesman, said.<\/p>\n
TNI spokesman in the province of Aceh Lt. Col. Firdaus said
\nthat six GAM rebels were shot dead in another raid on a
\nseparatist base in Pantan Karya village in the Central Aceh
\nregency on Thursday afternoon.<\/p>\n
GAM spokesman in North Aceh Sofyan Daud, however, denied that
\nany of his men were killed in the village, saying that the six
\ndead were all civilians.<\/p>\n
Sofyan claimed the six victims were killed by the military and
\nthen dressed in combat fatigues with weapons placed in their
\nhands.<\/p>\n
\"This is done to show their (the military's) prowess, to show
\nthat they had a successful operation,\" Sofyan claimed.<\/p>\n
The rebel figure also threatened to put up a fight against the
\nsecurity forces' attacks on the separatist movement by launching
\nattacks on police and military bases. Sofyan claimed that his
\nside had managed to wound six policemen in a series of rebel
\nattacks on police dormitories in the villages of Beurawe and Ajun
\non Thursday.<\/p>\n
On Friday morning, three GAM rebels were also shot dead in a
\nraid on their base in the Kuta Baru district of Aceh Besar
\nregency, some 20 kilometers east of the Acehnese capital of Banda
\nAceh, TNI deputy spokesman Maj. Edi Sulistiadi claimed.<\/p>\n
In Banda Aceh, a pathologist at Zainoel Abidin General
\nHospital said a male body aged about 18 with gunshot wounds was
\ntaken to the morgue late on Thursday night.<\/p>\n
Comr. Sudarsono, the deputy police spokesman for the law and
\norder operation currently underway in Aceh, told The Jakarta Post
\nby phone on Friday that the 18-year-old, who was identified as
\nTaufik, was wanted by the police for the fatal shooting of a
\npoliceman one month ago.<\/p>\n
\"Taufik and one of his friends were on a motorbike when they
\ncame face to face with patrolling policemen in Siem village in
\nDarussalam district, Aceh Besar. They shot at the police and the
\nofficers fired back. Taufik was shot in the back while his friend
\nfled the scene,\" officer Sudarsono said.<\/p>\n
Violence has continued to rage in Aceh this year with at least
\n1,000 people having been killed in the resource-rich province.<\/p>\n
A series of truces between GAM and the Indonesian government
\nhas failed to curtail the violence. In March of this year,
\nJakarta slapped a separatist tag on GAM, which has been fighting
\nfor an independent Islamic state since the mid-1970s.<\/p>\n
The new government of President Megawati Soekarnoputri is
\nexpected to attempt to stop the bloodshed by moving forward with
\na proposal for the province involving the endorsement of special
\nautonomy status under the new Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam Law.
\nViolence, however, has continued to spread in the area. (50\/edt)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/14-killed-as-violence-continues-in-aceh-1447893297",
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