PPRM clarifies fact in Aceh shooting<\/p>\n
LHOKSEUMAWE, Aceh (JP): The joint-military Crack Riot Troop
\n(PPRM) task force on Wednesday revised details of violence which
\nleft six people dead a day earlier in Peudada district.<\/p>\n
PPRM task force commander Col. Ridwan Karim told The Jakarta
\nPost here that Tuesday's incident began when houses of
\ntransmigrants from Uleu Keute village of the Peudada district,
\nabout 55 kilometers west of here, were set on fire.<\/p>\n
\"A group of 100 PPRM personnel together with local medical
\nstaff were hastily deployed to the scene in a truck after a
\nreport was received from the Uleu Keute village chief,\" Ridwan
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
He was told that houses of the transmigrants (mostly from
\nJava) had been set ablaze by a group of people armed with AK-47s.<\/p>\n
Two transmigrants, identified as Yanto and Zulkifli, were
\nincinerated in the fire, he said.<\/p>\n
The truck carrying the PPRM personnel and the medical staff
\nwere about six kilometers from the village when gunshots,
\nallegedly from Free Aceh separatist guerrillas, were fired at
\nthem at 11:15 p.m., Ridwan said.<\/p>\n
\"PPRM personnel also had the chance to fire back for about 30
\nminutes. Unfortunately, they were in a bad position, while the
\nrebels were easily aiming at our personnel from the top of the
\nhill,\" the officer said.<\/p>\n
According to Ridwan, the guerrillas shot dead PPRM members
\nSecond Sgt. Hendrik Silian from the Army and Pvt. second class
\nDominggus VC Taufan as well as Dr. Fauzia, head of the Peudada
\nhealth center and her fellow staff member, Mustapha.<\/p>\n
\"Fauzia was four months pregnant and an Acehnese. Which
\nIslamic rule allows Free Aceh separatist movement rebels to kill
\na pregnant female physician?\"<\/p>\n
Eight other PPRM personnel, most of them holding senior ranks,
\ntogether with three other medical staff, were still in a serious
\ncondition at Lhokseumawe and Biereun hospitals, he said.<\/p>\n
One of the injured, Peudada Police subprecinct chief Second
\nLt. Naharuddin, was in a critical condition with a gunshot wound
\nto the head.<\/p>\n
Early version<\/p>\n
A few hours after the incident, Indonesian Military (TNI)
\nspokesman Maj. Gen. Syamsul Ma'arif said at least 20 members of
\nthe rebel group launched an assault on a transmigration
\nresettlement area in the Peudada district, killing two
\ntransmigrants, two officers and two medical staff.<\/p>\n
He gave no further details about the incident.<\/p>\n
Six other people were injured when the rebels attacked a
\npolice station, he said.<\/p>\n
PPRM, consisting of a battalion of 450 riot troops including a
\nbomb squad, intelligence officers and military police, was
\ndispatched from Jakarta to Aceh on May 7 to restore law and order
\nto the province.<\/p>\n
In a related development on Wednesday, an NGO activist for
\nhumanity affairs, Acehnese Suraiya Kamaruzzaman of Flower, said
\nin her testimony on military atrocities in Aceh that Free Aceh
\nseparatist guerrillas were not involved in Tuesday's incident.<\/p>\n
\"From our (organization's) experience, it's impossible that
\nthey (rebels) killed civilians, since their doctrine prohibits
\nthem from doing that,\" she told an audience of activists and
\nreporters at the International NGO Forum for Indonesian
\nDevelopment office in South Jakarta.<\/p>\n
\"Our organization members had met them several times and they
\ndid not kill our members, even though we're indeed easy targets
\nto be killed by them.\"<\/p>\n
Suraiya believed the killing was masterminded by certain
\nparties in order to create renewed violence in Aceh. (46\/01\/bsr)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/pprm-clarifies-fact-in-aceh-shooting-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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