Five PTPN workers killed in Aceh

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Ten armed men shot dead five employees of a state-owned plantation in Aceh and kidnapped eight others on Saturday, the military said on Sunday.

All of the victims were employees of state-owned plantation PT Perkebunan Nusantara I in Langsa district, East Aceh.

The five were killed while working on an oil palm plantation in Blang Tualang village, Bireum Bayeum district, some 450 kilometers east of Banda Aceh, the spokesman for the military's Operations Command in Aceh, Maj. Zaenal Muttaqin, told Antara news agency.

He identified the five as Sofyan Hadi, Hariyono, Lahat, Syahrul and Mulyadi. The bodies of the five victims have been returned to their families for burial.

Missing were Tasman, Buyung, M. Soleh Abdullah, Salahuddin, Muhiddin, Sri Gunawan, Armana and Hendrik Saputra.

Zaenal said armed rebels from the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) were behind the killings and the abductions.

"After cold-bloodedly killing the five, the rebels abducted nine others, but one of the men, identified only as AZH, managed to escape and took refuge at a security post," Zaenal said.

The attackers, armed with rifles and handguns, also burned a platform truck used to carry the oil palm kernels.

The military, Zaenal added, was attempting to locate the rebels and free the eight men who were abducted.

"If GAM runs out of resources and has no public support it should not terrorize local residents," he stated.

Also on Saturday, a joint police and military team of some 180 men raided a suspected GAM base in Peureulak, East Aceh regency, and shot dead three rebels.

Zaenal said some seven other rebels managed to escape.

Meanwhile, residents in Dama Hitam, West Aceh district, were quoted by AFP as saying that they had found on Saturday the bodies of two men who had died of gunshot wounds.

They said the victims were civilians who had been shot by security forces who conducted an antirebel operation in the area on Friday.

Muttaqin said he had not received a report on the incident.

GAM has been fighting for an independent Aceh on the island of Sumatra since 1976.

More than 10,000 people, mostly civilians, have died in the conflict, including over 200 this year.