TNI sends 2,000 more troops to tense Aceh<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The Indonesian Military (TNI) dispatched on
\nThursday 2,000 troops for a humanitarian mission to Aceh, which
\nis licking its wounds from recent floods.<\/p>\n
Comprising soldiers from Army Strategic Reserves Command
\n(Kostrad), Marine, Air Force Special Force (Paskhas) and Army
\nlogistics unit, the legion departed aboard three Navy warships
\nset off by TNI Chief of Territorial Affairs Lt. Gen. Agus Widjojo
\nfrom Tanjung Priok naval base.<\/p>\n
TNI spokesman Air Rear Marshal Graito Usodo told The Jakarta
\nPost the troops would focus on rehabilitation projects on public
\nfacilities, including hospitals, roads and school buildings.<\/p>\n
\"But if necessary the TNI personnel will be deployed to
\nmaintain peace and order there,\" Graito said, without
\nelaborating.<\/p>\n
The dispatch of reinforcement troops came ahead of the one-day
\nvisit of President Abdurrahman Wahid early next week to the
\nnatural resource-rich province which has long felt the passion of
\nseparatism.<\/p>\n
Floods and a subsequent landslide befell Aceh earlier this
\nmonth, killing at least 20 people.<\/p>\n
Army chief of staff Gen. Endriartono Sutarto said earlier that
\nthree battalions of Kostrad had been sent to Aceh also for a
\nhumanitarian mission.<\/p>\n
Tension in Aceh has been on the rise ahead of the planned
\nvisit of the President on Dec. 19, as the death toll in a series
\nof violence since Monday reached nine.<\/p>\n
Security measures have been stepped-up. Local residents
\nclaimed to have seen police and military personnel in civilian
\nclothes patrolling in taxis and private cars.<\/p>\n
Police Special Operation Cinta Meunasah spokesman Sr. Supt.
\nKusbini Imbar revealed on Thursday that a Police Mobile Brigade
\n(Brimob) member Pvt. Iskandar was killed and another officer,
\nidentified only as Muh. Sufi, was injured in an ambush in the
\nWest Aceh area of Lamo in Jaya district on Tuesday. The Free Aceh
\nMovement (GAM) rebels were blamed for the attack.<\/p>\n
A local GAM spokesman Abu Tausi said the policeman was killed
\nin a gunfight which occurred when the group of Brimob officers,
\nclad in civilian clothes, was conducting a sweeping operation.<\/p>\n
A similar attack was reported by South Aceh Police precinct
\nchief Supt. Moch. Ali Husein, who said that three Brimob officers
\nwere seriously wounded in a raid by GAM rebels in Pasi Raja
\nvillage in North Kluet district.<\/p>\n
Local residents said a civilian was killed when reinforcement
\ntroops were searching for the rebels.<\/p>\n
Earlier in Central Aceh, three masked men shot dead a retired
\nmilitary officer and his seven-year-old daughter in Balee Permata
\nvillage in Bandar district. The former serviceman's wife, who was
\ninjured in the attack, is being treated in a local hospital.<\/p>\n
Central Aceh Military commander Lt. Col. Rochana Herdianto
\nconfirmed the incident and identified the perpetrators as GAM
\nrebels. However, local GAM spokesman Ali Gergeul Piraq denied the
\nallegations on Wednesday, saying it would have been impossible
\nfor his men to enter the village due to its heavy security
\ncordon.<\/p>\n
Separately, head of Human Rights Care Forum Moh. Yusuf Puteh
\nsaid on Wednesday that three bodies bearing severe wounds were
\nfound separately near the Arakundo Simpang Ulim river and on a
\nstreet in Sungai Pauh village in East Aceh. (50\/dja\/lup)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/tni-sends-2000-more-troops-to-tense-aceh-1447893297",
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