12 killed in restive Aceh

Ibnu Mat Noor, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh

At least 12 people, including a soldier, were killed in the latest outbreak of violence in Aceh from Wednesday to Thursday, officials said on Friday.

Seven members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) were shot dead in a military raid at a rebel base in the Gunung Rotan hills of South Aceh district on Wednesday, military spokesman Lt. Col. Firdaus said on Friday.

Nobody from GAM was available for comment.

GAM rebels also ambushed on Thursday a military convoy in the Krueng Sabee district of West Aceh and shot dead a soldier, Chief Pvt. Alwing from the Army's Airborne 700 (Linud 700), on Thursday, Firdaus said.

The unidentified bodies of four civilians were also found nearby, he said.

In the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, on Thursday three civilians and a policeman were wounded after two unidentified men riding a motorcycle threw a grenade into a police car, said district police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Sayed Hoesaini.

At least 1,300 people, mostly civilians, have been killed since the government launch a military operation last May.

GAM has been fighting for an independent Islamic state since the mid-1970s. The central government eventually slapped a separatist tag on the movement in March this year. President Megawati Soekarnoputri led a peace campaign in Aceh in September, but firmly rejected independence for the province.

Amri Abdul Wahad, field commander of Free Aceh Separatist Movement's military wing, condemned the killing of seven civilians in South Aceh, saying his side would take revenge against the military.

"Those killed in the military patrol (in South Aceh) were not GAM rebels but civilian people," he said.