Eight other people dead in gunfights in Aceh
Eight other people dead in gunfights in Aceh
BANDA ACEH, Aceh (JP): The home of Aceh deputy police chief
Snr. Comr. Ramli Darwis was bombed here late Friday night causing
the death of a policeman.
Deputy spokesman for Aceh Police Comr. Sudharsono however said
that Ramli was not at home at the time of the explosion.
There was no immediate information on the suspected
perpetrators of the attack.
The latest incident raises the number of dead to nine people
since Thursday in various clashes between Indonesian security
troops and Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist rebels.
Sudharsono said on Friday that a joint company of Indonesian
Military (TNI) and police clashed with rebels on a bridge
connecting Idi Rayeuk and Blang Jambe Julok village in East Aceh,
leaving two GAM members killed.
"The GAM members, identified as Tarmizi Husin, 21, and Mukhtar
Pauh, 26, were shot dead in the clash, while a TNI personnel
sustained a gunshot wound," Sudharsono said.
Sudharsono added that in Ara Bungong Peudada village in
Bireuen regency, joint security personnel raided a house believed
to be the separatists' headquarters.
He said during the raid, three armed people alleged to be GAM
members, were arrested for questioning.
On Thursday afternoon, two police officers, riding a
motorcycle, were hit by a spray of bullets fired by passengers of
a passing Kijang van in Babah Jurong village in Kuto Baru
district in Aceh Besar.
The officers, identified as Chief Brig. Junaidi and First
Brig. Sujarwo, both were shot in their thighs and received
treatment at Zainoel Abidin General Hospital in Banda Aceh.
Sudharsono suspected that the attackers were GAM members.
"They fled after one of the officers fired back at the their
car," Sudharsono said.
Meanwhile Zulkarnaen, an activist from the Anti Violence
Students Forum (Formapak), said on Friday that local residents in
Kuala Simpang Ulim and Ulee Rubek in East Aceh had found four
bodies, full of gunshot wounds.
The corpses were suspected to be victims of an exchange of
gunfire late Thursday.
Separately, GAM spokesman for Pidie area Abu Razak said that
security personnel shot two civilians during a patrol in Meureudu
village in Pidie regency. (50)