Clash between armed men and Aceh Police claims two lives<\/p>\n
BANDA ACEH, Aceh (JP): Two armed men were killed and two
\npolicemen wounded in an exchange of gunfire in the mountainous
\nGeureutee area of West Aceh, some 60 kilometers southeast of
\nBanda Aceh.<\/p>\n
The incident took place on Monday afternoon, just a day after
\nrebels from the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) ambushed a
\nconvoy of trucks carrying members of the National Police's Mobile
\nBrigade. Three police officers were killed in Sunday's clash.<\/p>\n
According to the spokesman for Aceh's joint task force Rencong
\nII, Maj. Said, Monday's clash occurred when armed people in two
\nKijang vans intercepted a Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) car which
\nwas being escorted by several officers from the Mobile Brigade.<\/p>\n
\"They sprayed bullets at the BRI car. Cross fire was
\nunavoidable. The BRI car had just returned from delivering money
\nto Tapak Tuan, South Aceh,\" Said stated on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
He said two men in one of the vans was killed, while the other
\nattackers managed to flee.<\/p>\n
According to Said, the names of the two men killed in the
\nincident could not be determined because they were not carrying
\nidentification.<\/p>\n
The two injured officers in the BRI car, identified as Sgt.
\nSupriadi and Sgt. Fitriadi, are being treated at Banda Aceh's
\nZainoel Abidin General Hospital.<\/p>\n
\"A Kijang van used by the attackers was seized as evidence,
\nbut no guns were found; only a magazine for an M-16,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Eyewitnesses who requested anonymity, however, said four
\ncivilians, including the two men police claimed were killed in
\nthe attack on the BRI car, were shot dead during a police sweep
\nfollowing Sunday's attack on the Mobile Brigade officers.<\/p>\n
The eyewitnesses said they found four bodies, all identified
\nas West Aceh residents, in two separate locations on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
Two of the victims were identified as Abdul Hadi, 32, from
\nDarat village in Lamno, and Zainuddin, 28, a local of Grueng
\nSabe. According to witnesses, the pair were returning home from
\nBanda Aceh in a Kijang van when a group of police officers fired
\non their vehicle.<\/p>\n
Their bodies were reportedly dumped in a ravine, where they
\nwere discovered by locals on Tuesday morning.<\/p>\n
The other two civilian fatalities were identified as Mawardi,
\n28, a resident of Lambaroh, and Alaidin Syah, 30, from Darat
\nvillage. Both men were reportedly driving in a Taft Rocky Jeep in
\nthe Geureutee area when they were killed.<\/p>\n
Their jeep was reported to have been fired on before it
\nplunged into a ravine near the beach in Geureutee. Their bodies
\nwere also found by local residents on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
GAM spokesman Abu Tausie in Meureuhom Daya, West Aceh, accused
\npolice of killing the four and denied the victims were members of
\nthe separatist group.<\/p>\n
He also claimed GAM attacked on Monday afternoon a truckload
\nof officers from the Mobile Brigade, a Kijang van and a Panther
\nvan in an area two kilometers from Lamno, West Aceh. He said at
\nleast 40 officers were killed and 15 others injured in the
\nattack.<\/p>\n
\"Fourteen GAM members initiated the attack,\" he said on
\nTuesday. Official confirmation, however, was unavailable.<\/p>\n
Responding to the escalating violence, Aceh Police deputy
\nchief Col. Sumantiyawan stated on Tuesday the police would beef
\nup security and that officers in the field had been ordered not
\nto be provoked into retaliation.<\/p>\n
\"No matter how hard things are, please restrain yourselves.
\nThis violence proves who really initiated the conflict,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Police and soldiers have increasingly become targets of attack
\nby armed separatists in the past several months.<\/p>\n
With the latest incident, there have been at least four
\nattacks on security personnel in the area around Geureutee over
\nthe past few months, Sumantiyawan said.<\/p>\n
Geureutee is known as a restive area, with the mountainous
\nterrain affording rebels a place to hide from security personnel,
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
According to data from the police, at least 44 officers, 18 of
\nwhom were from the Mobile Brigade, have been killed while on duty
\nin Aceh this year. At least 35 others have been injured and 11
\nhave been declared missing.<\/p>\n
Meanwhile in Yogyakarta, State Minister of Human Rights
\nAffairs Hasballah M. Saad said it was possible five cases of
\nalleged human rights abuses in Aceh would be tried before Idul
\nFitri.<\/p>\n
\"We're still settling differences on whether to hold the trial
\nin Aceh or Jakarta and who the judges will be, as there are two
\ncivilian and three military judges set for the court,\" Hasballah
\ntold journalists on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The Attorney General's Office is due to make a final decision
\non these issues later this week, he said. (44\/50\/edt)<\/p>",
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