Fresh violence kills 6 in strife-torn Aceh province

BANDA ACEH, Aceh (JP): Six people were killed in fresh outbreaks of violence in Aceh province and most phone lines were disconnected on Friday, officials and reports said.

On Friday, at around 12 p.m., a 39-year-old teacher named Zainuddin was shot dead during a routine patrol by security forces in the village of Cot Lele in Jeram district, West Aceh.

West Aceh Police spokesman First Insp. Noviman said that the man refused to stop at a security checkpoint and fled the scene, forcing patrol officers to open fire.

Police seized several bullets from the man as evidence, but the victim's family had strongly denied allegations that Zainuddin was a separatist rebel, a local journalist said.

Meanwhile spokesman of Police's Cinta Meunasah II Adj. Sr. Comr. Sad told The Jakarta Post by telephone from Banda Aceh that in Bireun regency a man named Amri, 30 was shot dead by unidentified gunmen on Thursday.

"We were having communication problems as many standard phone lines across several regencies in the province have been disconnected so details of all the incidents in Aceh have not been immediately available," he said.

Four more male corpses with gunshot wounds were located in Besar regency, close to the province's capital, Banda Aceh, on Friday, Indonesian Red Cross activists said.

Three of the bodies were located in the village of Ateung while the remains of a resident named Mujianto was found in Ajun village, both in Aceh Besar regency.

The three fatalities in Ateung were believed to be locals who had been asked to help the authorities locate bases of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels, while Mujianto was allegedly killed by one of the rebels who considered him a spy, a local journalist revealed. (edt/50)