Baby shot, mom fights for life
Baby shot, mom fights for life
Ibnu Mat Noor, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh
A baby was shot and killed and its mother left fighting for her
life in violence which claimed at least 10 lives in the war-
ravaged Indonesian province of Aceh on Sunday and Monday, sources
said.
The dead also include a soldier, two alleged Free Aceh
Movement (GAM) separatists and a 79-year-old man and his son.
Maj. Zaenal Mutaqin, spokesman for the Iskandar Muda Military
Command overseeing Aceh, said two rebels were killed in separate
gun battles in North Aceh and East Aceh on Monday.
Razali, 30, an alleged member of GAM, was killed in the
village of Cebrek, North Aceh. The soldiers who killed him seized
a gun and ammunition from his house, he said.
Mutaqin said another GAM member, identified as Abdullah, was
killed during a clash with a group of patrolling soldiers in
Tualang Cut, East Aceh. Alamsyah, 30, was arrested for further
investigation after he surrendered to the soldiers, he said.
GAM spokesman for East Aceh Ishak Daud denied the two were
rebel soldiers, saying the local military had killed three
civilians.
"The soldiers killed not only Abdullah and Razali but also 22-
year-old Kasem Ali. The three are civilians who have no
relationship with GAM," he said.
He said the trio were killed as reprisal for GAM attacks on
two military posts in the regencies of Simpang Ulim and Alue
Baloh on Monday.
GAM spokesman for North Aceh Tengku Jamaika admitted that a
rebel, identified as M. Jafar, 25, and an unidentified soldier
were killed in a gunfight in Geulanggang Baro, Tanah Pasir
Subdistrict on Monday.
He said soldiers also shot dead a six-month-old baby being
carried by his mother after rebels attacked a military post near
the village.
"The baby died instantly while his mother is still in a
critical condition for several serious injuries to her hands and
chest," he said.
Mutaqin denied that soldiers shot the woman and killed her
baby.
He also said that local people discovered five bodies with
gunshot wounds in Pidie, East Aceh and Aceh Besar.
The bodies of Abdullah Gade, 35, and his father A. Amin, 79,
and an unidentified man were discovered in Pidie Regency. Two
other bodies found in East Aceh and Aceh Besar were yet to be
identified, Yusra, an Indonesian Red Cross staff member, said on
Tuesday.
"The five were killed on Sunday or Monday," he said.
GAM spokesman for Pidie Abu Razak accused the local military
of having killed the civilians after abducting them.
"More and more civilians have been abducted and killed after
the local military intensified its operation to quell the
separatist movement that has the full support of the locals," he
said.