Aceh rebels kill nine more people

JAKARTA (JP): Amid reports of mounting separatist activities in Aceh, Free Aceh guerrillas on Saturday killed nine security personnel and injured seven others in an ambush, Indonesian Military (TNI) spokesman Maj. Gen. Syamsul Ma'arif said on Sunday.

He said that about 30 rebels armed with weapons including a light machine gun and two M-16 rifles launched an assault on the security personnel, who were returning from deployment in Gunung Malem hamlet, Setia Bakti subdistrict, about 30 kilometers to the south of the West Aceh capital of Meulaboh.

"The guerrillas launched the assault when the security personnel were in an area they knew little about. The security personnel hail from the North Sumatra capital of Medan," he said here.

He believed they could do little to protect themselves during the ambush.

The dead were identified as Second Lt. Yazir, Sgt. Abdullah, Pvt. Supriyatin, Pvt. Jayakusuma, Pvt. Mulyadi, Pvt. Meidi, Pvt. Haryadi, Sgt. (Police) Zainuddin Makam and Sgt. (Police) Fachrun. Injured were Second Lt. Tommy Arief, Pvt. Bahrein, Pvt. Ade Irawan, Pvt. Ibadai Harefa, Pvt. Karamaini, Pvt. Hanif and Sgt. (Police) M. Yunus.

The soldiers were from Medan's Zeni Division, while the police officers were from a unit of the Mobile Brigade in Meulaboh.

"The dead have been buried, while the injured are being treated in a public health center in Meulaboh and a hospital in Medan," said Syamsul.

Syamsul regretted the violence and said it would have a negative impact on the upcoming general election in the province.

"The Aceh rebels have intensified their activities to disrupt the elections." He added that TNI would continue in its efforts to create a conducive climate for the elections.

Last Tuesday, two security personnel, two transmigrants and two health workers were killed and six others were seriously injured when violence flared up at a transmigration resettlement area in Peudada, North Aceh.

Separately, about 450 transmigrant families fled their resettlement areas in Lhokseumawe on Saturday following intimidation from Free Aceh members.

Mahdi, chief of the North Aceh transmigration ministry office, said the refugees left their residences in several subdistricts in the regency after being frequently terrorized by armed rebels.

"They are now sheltered at two government buildings in Lhokseumawe. All of them are in good health," he said.

He said the transmigrants rejected offers to return to their homes but asked to be resettled in a safer regency where they could live and work in peace.

Meanwhile, about 15,000 residents from three districts remained in public buildings in Peudada following raids against the separatist guerrillas by the military.

There are fears they are running short on food supplies, which are provided by the military, and some of them have hoisted Free Aceh flags.

The people have been forced to seeks donations from passing motorists.

Military setting

Meanwhile, Hakim Nyak Pha, a professor of law at Banda Aceh's Syah Kuala University, accused the military of engineering the political violence in an attempt to maintain its presence in the province and cloak its past mistakes.

"All violence in Aceh has been engineered by the military to create chaos so that their presence will continue to be needed in the province, and the Acehnese people will no longer demand its responsibility for human rights abuses it has committed in the past," he said in Banda Aceh on Sunday.

He cited Achmad Kandang, who was blamed by the military for intimidating the people in Lhokseumawe. He said Achmad Kandang did not exist but was deliberately created to be the scapegoat for all the violence, terror and intimidation it committed.

Hakim acknowledged the separatist movement's presence, but said its numbers were too small to launch such extensive attacks. (rms/47/01)