Fire razes kiosks in Pidie regency

BANDA ACEH, Aceh (JP): Fire razed some 150 kiosks belonging to traders at Ulee Gle market in Pidie regency on Thursday evening, an act of arson the vendors blamed on the police.

The fire, which also gutted part of a mosque and destroyed several motorcycles, reportedly was followed by sporadic shooting by dozens of officers from the National Police's Mobile Brigade.

Locals reported on Friday that a mentally ill man was killed and a 13-year-old girl injured in the gunfire.

The accusations were denied by the police, who blamed armed rebels for the attack.

According to the Ulee Gle vendors, the men who burned down the kiosks and opened fire were wearing Mobile Brigade (Brimob) uniforms.

"The fire and the attack was initiated by two truckloads of Brimob officers," vendor Sulaiman Hasballah said.

The man killed in the gunfire was identified as Budiman. The wounded girl, identified as Mariama, remains in critical condition at a nearby hospital after being shot in the stomach.

Sulaiman said the Brimob officers, without warning, began firing their guns as they passed in front of the market, located on the side of the Banda Aceh-Medan intercity road.

"The police officers got off of the trucks and forced us to leave the market before they stormed our kiosks.

"Some of them looted the merchandise before setting fire to the kiosks," he said.

Budiman and Mariamah were shot when the attackers fired their guns to scatter the traders, Sulaiman added.

"We could only watch the kiosks burn down because the officers prevented us from putting out the fires," he said.

Maimul Fidar from the Coalition of Human Rights in Aceh urged the Banda Aceh-based Joint Committee on Security Modality to conduct a thorough investigation of the incident.

"Otherwise it will trigger public anger. A failure to clarify this case will affect security because the police will face resistance from the public, aside from the Free Aceh Movement," he said.

The spokesman for the special police operation Cinta Meunasah, Supt. Yatim Suyatmo, denied that police officers were involved in the attack at Ulee Gle market. He also said only 70 kiosks were damaged in the fire.

Separately, North Aceh Police chief Supt. Abadan Bangko said two police officers were injured when a convoy of three police vehicles was ambushed by armed rebels on Thursday in Muara Dua district. (50/51/lup)