Dead toll after Aceh latest clashes stands at 12
Dead toll after Aceh latest clashes stands at 12
BANDA ACEH, Aceh (JP): The signing of a peace accord between
the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and the government last week has
failed to stop violence in Aceh; at least 12 people have been
killed and two military personnel injured in separate incidents
in the restive province this week.
Eight gunmen were found dead on Thursday morning following an
armed clash with police in the North Aceh village of Hagu Barat
Laut, some two kilometers west of the regency's main town of
Lhokseumawe.
Local police spokesman Capt. Ahmad Mustafa Kamal said that an
armed group ambushed a police patrol on Wednesday at around 11
p.m. It then threw grenades at the patrol from a house. The
exchange of fire lasted until the early hours of Thursday.
Witnesses said the eight bodies were located in the house in
the village where the grenades were believed to have been thrown
from. Police claimed to have seized GLM rocket launchers,
revolvers, four assembled bombs, a grenade, several bullets and
two cellular phones.
Local residents identified the victims as villagers named
Zulkifli, 26, Yusra, 21, M. Arief, 30, Machdi, 21, Zulfikar, 22,
Musran, 33, Gunawan, 28. The other body remained unidentified.
Representatives of the government and GAM signed a joint
understanding on a humanitarian pause in Davos, Switzerland, on
Friday in a bid to stop the violence that has rocked the province
since separatist rebels began an armed campaign in the mid 1970s.
In another incident on Wednesday, police shot dead Udin, 26,
after he allegedly attempted to steal weapons from officers.
However, according to a villager who witnessed the shooting,
Muhammad Ali, the civilian was shot after being beaten by police
for riding a motorbike without a helmet.
Just three days after the peace agreement, military soldier
Priv. Triyanto was stabbed to death pn Monday by a youth in a
brawl at Kutabinje market in East Aceh. His attacker, a 20-year-
old boy, Musliadi, was then shot dead by Triyanto's colleagues.
Police also found early on Thursday morning the body of Sawang
village chief Sumiadi. He had been missing since Monday. (50/edt)