Fresh violence kills 6 in strife-torn Aceh province

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)