At least 683 rebels killed in Aceh

At least 683 rebels killed in Aceh

Agencies, Jakarta

At least 683 separatist rebels have been killed in Aceh and 1,560
others have been arrested or surrendered since a massive
operation to crush the guerrillas was launched three months ago,
a military spokesman said.

Navy Col. Ditya Sudarsono, a military spokesman in the
provincial capital of Banda Aceh, said on Thursday a total of 304
weapons had also been seized from the Free Aceh Movement (GAM),
and 43 soldiers and 12 police had died since May 19.

An estimated 30,000 troops and 10,000 police are battling a
guerrilla force originally estimated at 5,000 in the energy-rich
province on Sumatra island, where GAM has been fighting for
independence since 1976. Over 10,000 people, mostly innocent
civilians, have been killed since then.

Human rights activists and some other groups have questioned
the military figures for rebel deaths.

One rights group in the province said on Monday almost 300
civilians were killed in the first two months of the operation
alone. The Aceh Referendum Information Center (SIRA) did not say
which side it believes is responsible.

An international think tank, in a report last month, said the
military assault was only alienating ordinary Acehnese and
fueling support for GAM.

The Brussels-based International Crisis Group also questioned
military figures for the rebel dead, saying there was no way to
verify whether these were really guerrillas.

Kusnanto Anggoro, of the Centre for Strategic and
International Studies, said on Tuesday the small number of
firearms seized compared to the total number of reported captured
or killed GAM members showed the TNI had wrongly perceived
civilians as combatants.

"If the military manages to seize only 200 firearms but the
number of captured GAM members reaches almost 2,000, I suspect
that there are many civilians who have been treated as rebels,"
he said.

GAM rebels claimed that most of the victims had been unarmed
villagers, and international human rights groups have accused the
military of committing gross rights violations.

Human rights activists have also pointed to the discrepancy
between the number of weapons seized and the number of dead and
captured individuals as evidence that most of the victims were
not armed rebels.

Washington also has criticized the Army's offensive, saying
the conflict cannot be resolved by the use of military force. The
United States supported a six-month truce in the province that
collapsed in May.

Indonesian generals say they need another three months to
crush the rebellion.

But analysts have cautioned that the war could drag on
indefinitely, and have criticized President Megawati
Soekarnoputri for not having an exit strategy and for alienating
many Acehnese by relying exclusively on force to solve the issue.

Meanwhile, GAM operational leader for Seulimun, Aceh Besar,
Husaini, has been killed in a gunfight with government troops.

The chief of the Aceh Besar Military Command, Lt. Col. Djoko
Warsito, said Husaini had been the target of operations.

After receiving information from local residents on the
whereabouts of Husaini, government troops from the 305 Infantry
Battalion moved in and saw Husaini walking alone at about 12 p.m.
on Wednesday, Djoko said.

Husaini refused to surrender and attempted to flee, firing at
troops. He was killed after a short gunfight, he said.

The troops confiscated an FN pistol and 26 rounds of
ammunition.

Another suspected separatist rebel, Muzakir, was killed in
Montasik in a gunfight after patrolling troops encountered three
rebels. Muzakir's colleagues managed to escape.

On Thursday, a police officer was killed after being abducted
from his home in Samahani, Kuta Malaka, Aceh Besar.

Second Brig. Zainal Abidin from the Sibreh Police sector was
abducted by 10 suspected rebels at about 11 a.m. after returning
home from his shift, the chief of the police sector, Second Insp.
Misbar said.