Six killed in Aceh strife

BANDA ACEH, Aceh: Violence continued in Aceh as six people died in separate incidents on Tuesday.

Police said they shot dead A. Manan, 19, as he was about to set fire to a sports stadium in the grounds of the Mobil Oil complex in Lhokseumawe, North Aceh.

"Two of his friends fled the scene soon after we shot Manan," local police chief Lt. Col. Syafei Aksal said on Wednesday.

Syafei added that an alleged separatist rebel named Syaiful Bahri, 22, was also shot dead in Paku village in Peusangan district in Bireun as he tried to escape from detention.

Separately, the bodies of four civilians were found in shallow graves at Lhok Jamin and Ujong Padang villages in Bakongan district in South Aceh on Tuesday night.

The bodies were sent to Tapak Tuan General Hospital for autopsy.

The latest incidents brought the death toll this month to at least 50. In January alone 114 people died, most of them civilians. (50/edt)