Kamra member shot dead in troubled Aceh province
Kamra member shot dead in troubled Aceh province
JAKARTA (JP): A member of the auxiliary police force was shot
dead in Aceh on Monday, in the latest incident of violence in the
troubled province, Antara said.
The news agency quoted witnesses as saying that M. Yusuf, 30,
known by locals to be a member of the auxiliary police, was shot
by a group of men from a car in front of a market in Samudera
district, some 15 kilometers east of the North Aceh capital of
Lhokseumawe.
A police officer from the nearby post was quoted as saying
that the attack took place at around 11:40 a.m., as Yusuf waited
for public transportation.
Meanwhile, a major bus company based in the North Sumatra
capital of Medan, the Kurnia group, stopped its services to Banda
Aceh, the capital of Aceh province, starting from Sunday
following a series of late night attacks against its intercity
buses in North Aceh over the past two months.
The latest attack took place on Friday when a group of armed
people set a bus on fire in the North Aceh village of Blang
Tambue.
The local representatives of the Organization of Land
Transportation Owners demanded on Saturday a security guarantee,
saying that otherwise they would stop operating.
Violence has been on the rise in North Aceh, East Aceh and
Pidie, where at least 100 people, including 41 civilians, have
been killed and about 400 houses, school buildings and government
offices were set on fire since May in attacks by the military and
also allegedly by separatist group members.
North Aceh, East Aceh and Pidie regencies are the areas that
were most affected by a decade of anti-separatist operations,
during which the military has been accused of widespread human
rights abuses.
Calls for a referendum on self-determination for the province
and a boycott of the general elections have been the strongest in
these three provinces.
The military has accused the separatist movement of
intimidating the residents to boycott the June 7 elections. It
has also accused them of intimidating migrant settlers to leave
their villages.
Thousands of Acehnese have fled to school buildings and
mosques in Pidie, North Aceh and East Aceh recently fearing a
heavy military presence in their villages.
At least 1,200 riot troops were deployed to Aceh following the
military shooting incident in the North Aceh village of Krueng
Geukueh on May 3.(byg/40)