At least 21 Acehnese shot dead in military operation

BANDA ACEH, Aceh (JP): At least 21 people were shot dead on Saturday during a joint military-police operation at a village in Aceh Timur.

Aceh law and order security spokesman Comr. Sudharsono claimed that the victims were members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and that the village on the outskirts of Peureulak regency was believed to be one of the group's base camps.

However GAM spokesman Amri Abdul Wahab told reporters that only one of the victims, identified as Syeh Yatim, was a member of the group. He claimed that the other 20 were civilians.

Witnesses said that two trucks loaded with security personnel raided the small village at 5 a.m. on Saturday and forced their way to Yatim's house.

The troops, they claimed, sprayed bullets at other residents who were trying to flee.

A total of 21 died and their bodies were taken to a nearby public health center in the regency.

In another raid on Panton Labu village in Jambo Aye regency, Aceh Utara, 15-year-old Muslim Jafar was also reportedly shot dead by the joint security force.

A resident, who asked not to be named, told journalists that troops were searching for Jafar's father, who was believed to be a GAM member, at the family's residence.

Jafar was the only one home at the time.

The police have denied these claims.

Sudharsono also announced that five out of six negotiators from GAM were declared subversion suspects.

The six had been detained on Friday on suspicions of subversion after attending peace talks with government representatives.

He identified the suspects as Teungku Nashiruddin bin Ahmad, Amni bin Marzuki, Amdi bin Hamdani, T. Kamaruzzaman and T. Muhammad. The suspects are all GAM members.

The police released Nasrullah Dahlawi because he was a member of a neutral monitoring team recruited by GAM to help in dialogs aimed at solving problems in the conflict-torn province. (50/bby)