Military bombards Aceh again
Military bombards Aceh again
Nani Farida and Teuku Agam Muzakir, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh/Lhokseumawe
For the second reported time, the Indonesian Military (TNI)
dropped bombs and fired rockets at suspected rebel positions in
two days of air strikes in Aceh with its Falcon F-16 and OV-10
Bronco bombers, claiming the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) commanders
were under siege.
The Air Force deployed three U.S.-made Falcon F-16 jetfighters
and two OV-10 Bronco bombers from the airbase in Medan, capital
of North Sumatra, to bombard several GAM hideouts in Puuk
village, Cot Keueng district, Aceh Besar Regency.
But it was not immediately clear whether the bombs and rockets
reached their targets.
On Monday, the jet fighters dropped 14 rockets and several
bombs in remote Kemukinan Mbang forest, Syamtalira Bayu district,
North Aceh
Following the air strikes, soldiers of the Army's Special
Force (Kopassus) were deployed to go into the suspected GAM
hideout but only found one man, later identified as Muhammad
Iqbal, 28.
The soldiers also confiscated a combat rifle and ammunition
from Iqbal, as well as a radio transmitter and other items.
One soldier suffered minor injuries from a bomb explosion
during the ground assault. He is now being treated at the Army's
hospital in Lhokseumawe.
Syamtalira Bayu is known as GAM's bomb detachment and the area
is reportedly heavily booby trapped.
The air strike was at least the second one that the TNI has
launched to defeat the separatists. The first was launched during
the first month after the government declared martial law on May
19.
The military has so far claimed to have killed more than 750
rebels and arrested 1,500 others, many of whom are undergoing
police and military investigation or facing trials.
Aceh Military Operation Commander Maj. Gen. Bambang Darmono
claimed that hundreds of troops had blockaded the rebels' camp
and believed that several GAM commanders, as well as some a
hundred-strong rebels, were hiding inside.
"We (military) did some surveillance around the location a
week ago before launching the air strike. We predicted that at
least, a hundred rebels, including GAM commanders, were inside
the camp," Bambang, who led the strike, told reporters on
Tuesday.
He, nevertheless, refused to disclose the name of GAM
commanders who were currently under the siege, but reportedly,
GAM Commander Muzakkir Manaf was among them.
Meanwhile, Tengku Jamaika, GAM spokesman in Pase region,
denied that several GAM commanders were currently under siege,
saying the military had attacked civilian residences.
There are three villages in Kemukiman Mbang being bombarded:
Pulo Meuria, Dayah and Krueng Seupeng.
Jamaika also said that the military has bombarded residential
areas in Leubok, Blang Pante and Pante Kiro in Matang Kuli
districts within the past few days.
Entering the fourth month of the military campaign, the TNI
claimed that it was now intensifying intelligence efforts and
targeting GAM leaders.
But in the past several days, no GAM leaders have been
captured.
The TNI began the assault on GAM positions with an air strike
using British-made Hawk jet planes. Britain expressed objection
to the use of its planes against other Indonesians, citing a pre-
purchase deal.
Since Indonesia purchased the American F-16 jet fighters in
1996, the war against GAM rebels could become the last time the
fighters are used in combat.
Military personnel have complained in the past that it was
increasingly difficult to operate the American-made warplanes due
to a shortage of spare parts as the U.S. has not yet entirely
lifted its arms embargo imposed on Indonesia following its
assertion that the TNI was responsible for the rights violations
in East Timor in 1999.