Clash between armed men and Aceh Police claims two lives

BANDA ACEH, Aceh (JP): Two armed men were killed and two policemen wounded in an exchange of gunfire in the mountainous Geureutee area of West Aceh, some 60 kilometers southeast of Banda Aceh.

The incident took place on Monday afternoon, just a day after rebels from the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) ambushed a convoy of trucks carrying members of the National Police's Mobile Brigade. Three police officers were killed in Sunday's clash.

According to the spokesman for Aceh's joint task force Rencong II, Maj. Said, Monday's clash occurred when armed people in two Kijang vans intercepted a Bank Rakyat Indonesia (BRI) car which was being escorted by several officers from the Mobile Brigade.

"They sprayed bullets at the BRI car. Cross fire was unavoidable. The BRI car had just returned from delivering money to Tapak Tuan, South Aceh," Said stated on Tuesday.

He said two men in one of the vans was killed, while the other attackers managed to flee.

According to Said, the names of the two men killed in the incident could not be determined because they were not carrying identification.

The two injured officers in the BRI car, identified as Sgt. Supriadi and Sgt. Fitriadi, are being treated at Banda Aceh's Zainoel Abidin General Hospital.

"A Kijang van used by the attackers was seized as evidence, but no guns were found; only a magazine for an M-16," he said.

Eyewitnesses who requested anonymity, however, said four civilians, including the two men police claimed were killed in the attack on the BRI car, were shot dead during a police sweep following Sunday's attack on the Mobile Brigade officers.

The eyewitnesses said they found four bodies, all identified as West Aceh residents, in two separate locations on Tuesday.

Two of the victims were identified as Abdul Hadi, 32, from Darat village in Lamno, and Zainuddin, 28, a local of Grueng Sabe. According to witnesses, the pair were returning home from Banda Aceh in a Kijang van when a group of police officers fired on their vehicle.

Their bodies were reportedly dumped in a ravine, where they were discovered by locals on Tuesday morning.

The other two civilian fatalities were identified as Mawardi, 28, a resident of Lambaroh, and Alaidin Syah, 30, from Darat village. Both men were reportedly driving in a Taft Rocky Jeep in the Geureutee area when they were killed.

Their jeep was reported to have been fired on before it plunged into a ravine near the beach in Geureutee. Their bodies were also found by local residents on Tuesday.

GAM spokesman Abu Tausie in Meureuhom Daya, West Aceh, accused police of killing the four and denied the victims were members of the separatist group.

He also claimed GAM attacked on Monday afternoon a truckload of officers from the Mobile Brigade, a Kijang van and a Panther van in an area two kilometers from Lamno, West Aceh. He said at least 40 officers were killed and 15 others injured in the attack.

"Fourteen GAM members initiated the attack," he said on Tuesday. Official confirmation, however, was unavailable.

Responding to the escalating violence, Aceh Police deputy chief Col. Sumantiyawan stated on Tuesday the police would beef up security and that officers in the field had been ordered not to be provoked into retaliation.

"No matter how hard things are, please restrain yourselves. This violence proves who really initiated the conflict," he said.

Police and soldiers have increasingly become targets of attack by armed separatists in the past several months.

With the latest incident, there have been at least four attacks on security personnel in the area around Geureutee over the past few months, Sumantiyawan said.

Geureutee is known as a restive area, with the mountainous terrain affording rebels a place to hide from security personnel, he said.

According to data from the police, at least 44 officers, 18 of whom were from the Mobile Brigade, have been killed while on duty in Aceh this year. At least 35 others have been injured and 11 have been declared missing.

Meanwhile in Yogyakarta, State Minister of Human Rights Affairs Hasballah M. Saad said it was possible five cases of alleged human rights abuses in Aceh would be tried before Idul Fitri.

"We're still settling differences on whether to hold the trial in Aceh or Jakarta and who the judges will be, as there are two civilian and three military judges set for the court," Hasballah told journalists on Tuesday.

The Attorney General's Office is due to make a final decision on these issues later this week, he said. (44/50/edt)