48 houses torched in Aceh

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.