Parts of Aceh suffer from power blackout
Parts of Aceh suffer from power blackout
BANDA ACEH, Aceh (JP): Parts of Aceh were still paralyzed on
Wednesday following a power blackout as violence continued to
rock the province with two military and police officers shot dead
by gunmen.
The black out was due to a massive strike by truck drivers in
the area that begun on Monday to protest against illegal levies
by the police. The protests had led to fuel supply shortages.
Electricity problems still took place in the capital, Banda
Aceh and the regencies of Aceh Besar and Pidie while the truck
driver's strike continued in West Aceh and South Aceh.
"The truck drivers in West Aceh and South Aceh demanded a
letter from Aceh Police chief (Brig. Gen. Chaerul Rasyid)
guaranteeing that illegal levies were intolerable," a local
journalist said.
Military and police trucks were used to transport staple food
to the capital of North Aceh, Lhokseumawe while in other
regencies officers escorted the convoy of fuel supplies.
Police, however, reiterated that the strike was not due to
rampant illegal levies conducted by some police/military members
but "due to the threat from the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels".
"We settled the illegal levies problem a few days ago," Adj.
Sr. Comr. Yatim Suyatmo, deputy spokesman of Operation Cinta
Meunasah which aimed to restore peace and order in Aceh, told The
Jakarta Post by phone.
Meanwhile, violence continued raging in Aceh as suspected
separatist rebels shot and killed a subdistrict military chief
and a policeman in East Aceh and North Aceh respectively.
The Idi Rayeuk military subdistrict chief Capt. Husaini was
shot dead by gunmen during a routine patrol at the Idi Rayeuk
market in East Aceh around 2 p.m. on Tuesday.
"The officer was walking when suddenly two gunmen on a
motorbike gunned him down," an eyewitness said.
Sibram Malasi, chief of Idi Rayeuk community health post,
confirmed the incident and said the officer died from severe
bleeding as he got shot in the back of the head.
In North Aceh, a policeman named Brig. Yohanes Pasaribu was
killed in Lhokseumawe around 7:30 a.m. on Wednesday.
"He was sitting next to a driver in a public minivan when
suddenly gunmen sprayed bullets at him. The assailants fled the
scene on a motorbike," said North Aceh Police chief Adj. Sr.
Comr. Wanto Sumardi.
GAM's Abu Sofyan Daud denied allegations that rebels were the
ones shooting the officers.
Earlier on Wednesday two civilians, Ismail Muhammad and Idris
A. Bakar were found dead after a sweeping operation conducted by
police officers following an incident near an Exxon-Oil
plantation.
On Tuesday, a local named Buchari Abdurrahman was found dead
with a slit throat in Meunasah Baro village in Muara Batu in
North Aceh. (edt/50)