GAM holding 151 civilians hostage: TNI
Teuku Agam Muzakir and Nani Farida, The Jakarta Post, Lhokseumawe/Banda Aceh
The military and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) traded accusations of kidnapping on Saturday, highlighting the suffering of civilians in the province as the war between the rebels and the military rages on.
The spokesman for the military operation in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam, Lt. Col. CAJ Ahmad Yani Basuki, said GAM was holding as many as 151 civilians hostage, including television reporter Ersa Siregar and cameraman Fery Santoro.
He said he arrived at that figure after a number of regency administrations reported missing residents. He did not say how he arrived at the conclusion that the missing residents had been abducted by GAM.
"The initial number was 181 people, but then five of them were found dead and 25 have already been released," Yani said in Lhokseumawe.
Ishak Daud, the GAM commander overseeing East Aceh, said his troops were holding 84 people, mostly for "conducting espionage missions for and building close ties with the military".
"We have repeatedly told the Indonesian Military we are ready to release them through the PMI, but they have rejected the terms," Ishak said in a phone interview. PMI is the acronym for the Indonesian Red Cross.
Among the hostages are Ersa and Ferry of RCTI TV, two Acehnese women whose husbands are military officers and a number of village and district chiefs, Ishak said.
The GAM spokesman in Pasee, Teungku Jamaika, denied that the rebel group was responsible for any abductions. He accused the military and police of kidnapping civilians they suspected of being rebels.
"Please check in the field. There are many civilians being kidnapped by intelligence officers, and the fate of these people who have been abducted remains uncertain," Jamaika said.
He acknowledged that GAM was detaining a number of people believed to have been involved in intelligence work for the military.
Military spokesman Yani denied the TNI was hesitant to secure the release of the civilian hostages. He also accused the rebels of using the rebels as human shields.
"GAM is conducting a secessionist movement and it pits them against the TNI. When the rebels come under attack, they take civilians hostage and use them as human shields," he said.
Yani said the number of abductions and robberies committed by rebels was increasing.
He added that the military was doing everything it could to rescue the hostages, including raiding suspected GAM bases where the hostages were possibly being held.
"We do it carefully to avoid civilian fatalities," Yani said.
Separately, a girl identified as Suraya Putri, 19, was shot dead by suspected GAM rebels in the Peusangan district, Bireuen regency.
The spokesman for the security restoration operation in Aceh, Sr. Comr. Sayed Hoesainy, said on Saturday the girl was murdered on Thursday.
"There were gunshot wounds to her leg and head. She was possibly shot at close range," he said.
The girl's body was transported by the Indonesian Red Cross to her house in Bireuen, some 202 kilometers east of Banda Aceh.
Sayed said the murder was proof of the increasing brutality of the separatist rebels.
Separately, he said a group of Mobile Brigade police officers had arrested two suspected rebels in the villages of Dayah Bueuh Aree and Reubee in Delima district, Pidie regency.
The two suspected GAM members were identified as Abdul Rahman, 25, and A Rachman Nago, 50. Sayed said the two were involved in a series of crimes.