Seven injured as violence unabated in Aceh
Seven injured as violence unabated in Aceh
BANDA ACEH, Aceh (JP): Violence again marred the fasting month
of Ramadhan in Aceh as three students and four police personnel
were severely injured in separate incidents in Jeumpa Aceh
regency over the weekend.
A doctor at the Merdu subdistrict community health center in
Aceh Jeumpa regency, Farhad, said on Sunday he admitted Second
Sgt. Irvan, Second Sgt. Harry Triantoro and privates Eddy Agus
and Sulaeman to a hospital in the neighboring regency of Sigli.
He said the four members of the Police Mobile Brigade were
shot during an ambush by an unidentified group at about 2 p.m.
local time. They were near Pulau Baru village on the highway
linking Aceh's capital of Banda Aceh and North Sumatra's capital
Medan.
Witnesses said that a group of police later combed the village
for the assailants. The police burned at least 12 houses and
arrested dozens of people during the operation, they said.
Public transportation in the regency came to a standstill
after the incident.
The violence followed the shooting of three students in North
Aceh on Saturday night. Rahmat Yahya, Putra Juanda and Said
Mahfud Zikri were shot after failing to stop at a roadblock in
front of the Peulsangan Police station.
Head of Peulsangan Police subprecinct Second Lt. Vredom
confirmed the shooting and visited the three students shortly
after they were admitted to Bireun Hospital, some five kilometers
from the site of the incident.
The three have been transferred to Banda Aceh General
Hospital.
A member of the hospital's staff said that Rahmat suffered a
wound to his back and both of his arms were broken. He said one
of Rahmat's arms may be amputated.
Putra was shot in the chest, while a bullet grazed Said's left
temple.
Witnesses said that the three students, who were returning
from the Islamic Students Association (HMI) congress in Jambi,
were speeding in their Kijang van.
"The driver put on the brakes abruptly to avoid the barricade.
Suddenly the police fired shots at the van," an eyewitness, who
insisted on anonymity, said.
AFP quoted Capt. Muryanto of the North Aceh Police as saying
that an armed civilian was shot dead and three others wounded in
the Matang Geulumpangdua subdistrict
Violence continued in the predominantly Muslim province
despite appeals from all sides to exercise restraint during the
fasting month.
Data from the Sadar Rencong II Aceh Police information post
revealed that at least three police personnel were killed, two
severely injured and two others abducted during the last 10 days.
"The armed group has killed and kidnapped our personnel. We
have yet to find the two abducted members, who possibly have been
killed," the post commander, Maj. Sayed Hoesainy, said as quoted
by Antara on Saturday.
Sayed said 35 police personnel were killed, 12 kidnapped and
34 severely injured in the last eight months.
In addition, 40 soldiers were murdered, 64 severely wounded
and seven abducted in the same period, he said.
The chairman of the provincial chapter of the National
Commission on Human Rights, Iqbal Farabi, urged civilians and the
military on Saturday to use International Human Rights Day, which
fell on Dec. 10, as the impetus to end violence in Aceh.
"Both the military and the civilian armed group should stop
their enmity because too many innocent people have fallen victim
to their dispute," he said.
Aceh has been home to a growing clamor for independence and a
separatist campaign waged by the Free Aceh Movement. President
Abdurrahman Wahid has rejected the possibility of provinces
seceding from the country.
In a televised interview on Sunday, Singapore's Senior
Minister Lee Kuan Yew said Aceh would be a regional pariah if it
declared independence.
"Can it have international relations, trade and an
international voice? No country in Southeast Asia will recognize
it," Lee said in a CNBC Asia TV interview, the text of which was
provided to The Associated Press. (04/51)