319 civilians killed in Aceh
Nani Farida, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh, Aceh
Three months into the military offensive to quell the armed rebellion in resource-rich Aceh, at least 319 civilians have been killed and 117 others injured, according a senior police officer.
Aceh Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Sayed Hoesainy said here on Friday that most of the fatalities had occurred in North Aceh with 91 victims, followed by East Aceh and South Aceh with 67 and 36 dead respectively.
The three areas are strongholds of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), which had 5,000 armed personnel before the military offensive began on May 19.
Sayed went on to say that due to a lack of information, the police did not know which parties should be held responsible for the deaths.
He said most of the civilian victims' bodies had been recovered by locals with the help of Red Cross volunteers.
Both GAM and TNI members have traded accusations for the killing of civilians, and locals remain tight-lipped concerning the identify of the killers for fear of reprisal.
The military has claimed to have killed more than 800 rebels during the offensive.
Sayed declined to provide details when asked whether there were any rebels among the civilian victims. "Whether they (the dead victims) had identity cards or not, certainly they were members of the community," he said.
Sayed said 15 police officers had also been killed and 61 others had been injured in the operation to enforce the law in the province.
Separately, Husni, a senior official at the Aceh provincial administration, said 196 district heads and staff had been killed and 21 others injured.
The Pidie regency administration has lost 41 staff members and the East Aceh regency 32. All were killed by unidentified gunmen.
Husni said the Aceh martial law administrator had instructed regents to pay compensation to the victims' families.
In a separate development, a group of U.S. lawmakers protested on Thursday Malaysia's deportation of 12 Acehnese seeking political asylum there.
In a letter to Malaysian Ambassador to Washington Ghazzali Sheikh-Abdul-Khalid, the lawmakers said the return of more asylum seekers to Aceh was "unacceptable".
The letter raised concerns that 12 refugees repatriated last month had returned to a province beset by conflict as the Indonesian Military battled rebels, plus allegations of human rights abuse.
"We urge that your government's authorities abide by international law and not forcibly return any additional Acehnese to Aceh," said the letter, as quoted by AFP.
The letter was signed by eight members of the U.S. Congress including Patrick Kennedy, Christopher Smith, Barney Frank and Dennis Kucinich.