Powerful bomb kills two ahead of Aceh peace talks
Ibnu Mat Noor, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh
A powerful blast killed at least two men and injured seven other people, including three women and two children, in Aceh province ahead of a fresh round of peace talks this week in Switzerland.
And in another development, members of the rebel Free Aceh Movement (GAM) released at least seven students they had been holding for months on accusations that they were spies for the Indonesian Military (TNI).
Maj. Zaenal Mutaqin, a TNI spokesman in the town of Lhokseumawe, North Aceh, said the homemade bomb exploded in the village of Pusong in North Aceh on Monday at 8:15 p.m.
The two dead men were identified as Amir, 18, and Nasruddin, 23, both alleged GAM members. The explosion also damaged two houses.
"The two were killed and their bodies torn to pieces (in the blast)," Mutaqin said.
He said it was believed that the bomb belonged to the two victims, who were carrying the explosive to Lhokseumawe for an attack in the city center of about 3,000 people.
In unrelated cases, Mutaqin said the military had discovered the bodies of two apparent shooting victims in East Aceh and Central Aceh on Monday. Mutaqin blamed GAM for the deaths.
Also on Monday, GAM released seven students who had been held for months on allegations that they had spied on the rebel group for TNI.
The release of the seven students was mediated by the Human Rights Assistance Post (PB-HAM), a non-governmental organization based in East Aceh.
Nursyamsiyah, a PB-HAM activist, told The Jakarta Post on Monday night that she was with the group that picked up the released students from a village near the mountainous area of Peureulak.
The students are currently staying at the PB-HAM office in East Aceh, she added.
However, GAM is still holding two people -- Eti Nora and Marzuki.
"GAM told us that they were not yet able to free the two hostages because the safety of the hostages was threatened by TNI," Nursyamsiyah said.
The nine hostages, eight of them women, were abducted by GAM in separate incidents over the last several months. The rebels accused the nine of working as "informants" for the TNI.
Mariana, one of the released hostages who is a 21-year-old student at Aceh's Samudra Langsa University, said she was glad to be freed.
"I am not an informant for the TNI. But I have talked with them several times," said Mariana, who was taken by GAM members on March 21.
She said her captors treated her and the other hostages with kindness and respects.
The latest killings and the release of the hostages come days ahead of peace talks between government officials and GAM representatives scheduled for April 27 and April 28 in Geneva, Switzerland.
A GAM negotiator, Sofyan Ibrahim Tiba, told AFP that GAM's Swedish-based founder Hasan Tiro would decide soon whether the talks would go ahead.
He said five GAM negotiators in Aceh were due to travel to Switzerland for the negotiations, which are being facilitated by the Geneva-based Henry Dunant Center.
The latest round of talks is aimed at restoring security, based on an agreement reached by both sides in their last talks in early February, Tiba said.
Topping the agenda will be the resumption of discussions on "mechanisms for recovering security, because this is an extremely pressing problem as violence continues in Aceh", Sofyan said.
"The issue of special autonomy will be broached once discussions on security are complete," he added.
Meanwhile, Aceh Governor Abdullah Puteh claimed on Tuesday that the majority of his administration was working properly amid the improving security in the province.
He said the local government continued to seek breakthrough efforts to improve the welfare of people in the resource-rich region.