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)