48 houses torched in Aceh

BANDA ACEH, Aceh: At least 48 houses in three separate regencies of West, North and East Aceh were set ablaze by armed rebels in the past two days, a police officer claimed on Monday.

The spokesman of the police's Cinta Meunasah III operation, Adj. Sr. Comr. Sad Harun, estimated the fire had caused a total of Rp 1 billion in financial losses.

He said the arson perpetrators were members of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

Sad Harun said some 20 houses were burned in the village of Simpang Balek in Bukit district in Central Aceh regency on Saturday during which a resident, Tasmin, 35, was shot dead by the armed group.

In North Aceh, around 20 houses in Hagu Barat Laut village in Banda Sakti district and also a local labor and transmigration agency office were torched by the armed rebels in the early hours of Sunday.

Meanwhile in West Aceh, the rebels torched six houses belonging to migrant settlers in Lhok Sari in Kaway district, Antara reported.