Six GAM fighters killed in Aceh

Six GAM fighters killed in Aceh

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.