Six GAM fighters killed
Ibnu Mat Noor, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh
At least six Free Aceh Movement (GAM) members were killed in a gunbattle with government troops in Aceh on Friday, less than one week before the government and GAM negotiators resume peace talks in Geneva, Switzerland, on Oct. 31.
Aceh military operation spokesman Second Lt. Susanto said on Saturday that the six rebels were shot dead in a clash with military personnel in Siroen village, Indrapuri district, some 25 kilometers east of provincial capital Banda Aceh.
The clash came just days before the two sides are scheduled to hold peace talks in Geneva, where the government hopes to sign a peace accord with GAM to end the nearly three-decade conflict.
Susanto said government troops were acting on a tip by locals that some 100 rebels were operating in a nearby forest.
After a 25-minute gunfight, which started at around 3:15 p.m., military personnel found six dead GAM fighters and six AK-47 and M-16 rifles and more than 1,000 bullets.
The victims were identified as Yusri ASR, 22, Sabarbaini, 27, M. Raihan, 22, Fauzi, 25, Jafar and Mukhtar.
Local GAM spokesman Tengku Muksalmina was not available for comment.
Earlier on Thursday, security personnel shot dead one alleged rebel, identified as Taufik Hidayat, in Gunung Ketek, Samadua district, South Aceh, and confiscated a rifle and 300 rounds of ammunition.
Two alleged Aceh rebels were also killed on Thursday in Asahan district, North Sumatra.
In Bireuen, North Aceh, some 200 kilometers east of Banda Aceh, a group of unidentified armed men opened fire on a car belonging to deputy regent Amiruddin Idris on Friday morning.
No one was injured in the incident.
GAM has been fighting since 1976 for the independence of their resource-rich province on the northern tip of Sumatra island, some 1,750 kilometers northwest of Jakarta. At least 12,000 people have died in the fighting in the past decade, including about 900 this year.
Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Thursday that the government was ready to sign a peace agreement with the rebels next week to help put an end to the conflict.
GAM has not made any comment on whether it will sign the pact.
More than two years of periodic negotiations has done little to halt the bloodshed in the province.