12 killed in restive Aceh

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.