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.