Military kills 41 in latest Aceh strife: Report

Military kills 41 in latest Aceh strife: Report

JAKARTA (JP): Troops shot dead at least 41 civilians,
including a former political prisoner, in an antirebel operation
in the troubled province of Aceh last week, a human rights group
said on Monday.

The Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence
(Kontras) quoted witnesses as saying the military killed Teungku
Bantaqiah, an Islamic boarding school leader, who was just
released from Tanjung Gusta prison in North Sumatra in March. He
was serving a five-year prison term for an alleged involvement in
the Free Aceh separatist movement. Troops also killed Bantaqiah's
wife, his students and a number of farmers in two successive
raids in the remote Beutong area of West Aceh, some 100
kilometers south of the North Aceh capital of Lhokseumawe, on
Friday.

"While the massacre was in progress, a number of villagers
managed to escape. They had to walk through the jungle for one
full day before reaching a nearby town, retelling their account
of the violence," Kontras coordinator Munir told a media
conference.

He said the military killed at least eight farmers in the
first raid, launched shortly before Friday's prayer, in Krueng
Beutong Ateuh and Blang Meurandeh hamlets.

"The farmers were slaughtered while they were fishing in the
area," Munir, who called the violence as "a systematic massacre",
added.

He said troops began the second raid in Blang Meurandeh after
Friday's prayer by demanding the village chief gather up the
villagers for an identity card check.

Munir said dozens of villagers gathered in Bantaqiah's house.

"Shortly after that, troops instructed dozens of male
villagers to march out of the house to a nearby field and they
opened fire on Bantaqiah and then on the villagers and they all
died instantly," Munir said.

He quoted witnesses as saying that Bantaqiah was shot by a
grenade launcher after the first two gunshots were not able to
finish him.

Munir also said since July 20, the military had been carrying
out antirebel operations in the nearby villages of Blang Puuk,
Kuta Teungoh and Babak Suah.

However, Teuku Umar Regional Military Commander Col.
Syarifuddin Tippe, who oversees security in West Aceh, Central
Aceh, South Aceh, Southeast Aceh and Great Aceh, told Antara the
villagers were killed in an exchange of gunfire.

He said only 31 civilians were killed and none of the
security personnel were seriously injured in the incident.

"Before carrying out the raids on the suspected rebel base,
troops were ambushed twice by a group of armed people and there
was an exchange of gunfire," Syarifuddin said.

He said troops were dispatched to the mountainous area from
Central Aceh following intelligence reports that Bantaqiah's
group had some 100 firearms.

Syarifuddin said security personnel confiscated, among other
things, two Russian-made AK-47 automatic weapons, a pistol,
ammunition, a set of radio communications, two kilograms of
marijuana and dozens of sharp weapons.

Friday's violence was so far the worst since the shooting in
the North Aceh village of Krueng Geukueh on May 3, which killed
at least 41 civilian protesters and triggered continuing clashes
between the military and suspected rebels.

Tens of thousands of people have since then fled to school
buildings and mosques in fear of military operations in the
villages.

Armin Gruber, an International Committee of the Red Cross
representative in Aceh, told The Jakarta Post on Monday that up
to 95,000 people had sought refuge across the province and 60,000
of them were in Pidie, one of the most volatile areas in the
province.

"For quite some time the influx of refugees will go on. It's
not the peak of the problem," he said.

He said he was not optimistic that the situation would ease,
and warned that a food shortage would be the next problem to
tackle. (byg/anr)