Six more bodies found in Aceh
Ibnu Mat Noor, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh
The Indonesian Red Cross recovered six more bodies with gunshot wounds from two separate locations in Aceh Besar Regency on Saturday, but there was no confirmation whether the victims were civilians or members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).
Hanif, a staff member of the Indonesian Red Cross in the city, said here on Sunday that four bodies had been recovered from some areas in Indrapuri Subdistrict, while the other two had been taken from Darul Imarah Subdistrict.
"All the victims were between 20 years and 35 years of age and were estimated to have been killed one or two hours before their discovery by local people," he said.
He added that the six bodies had been taken to Zainoel Abidin General Hospital to be handed over to their relatives for burial.
Of the six bodies, only one was identified, as Syafii, 30, a resident of Lamblet Village in the regency, Hanif added.
On Friday, the Indonesian Red Cross also recovered four deceased from the Seunapet bridge near Seulawah Mountain in the regency.
The local military and police are still carrying out a limited security operation to quell the separatist movement in the restive province. Many rebels and security personnel have been killed in Aceh Besar and North and East Aceh regencies, which are GAM's stronghold in the province.
Separately, Lt. Col. Agus Permana, chief of the South Aceh Military Subdistrict, said that 30 soldiers from a joint battalion in South Aceh had shot dead two rebels in South Kluet Village last Friday.
"They also seized more than 17,800 rounds of ammunition, a number of M16 and AK-47 rifles and four motorcycles," he said.
Agus explained that the two rebels had been killed when soldiers had tried to stop the victims while on four motorcycles with three other rebels in the village.
"The rebels refused to stop and, instead, opened fire on the soldiers so that an exchange of fire was unavoidable," he said, adding that three rebels escaped and no soldiers were injured in the incident.
The two bodies were handed over to the head of Sapik Village for burial, he added.
Meanwhile, Abrar Muda, spokesman for GAM in South Aceh, confirmed that the two rebels had been killed in an exchange of fire between GAM and the local military but said three soldiers had also been killed in the incident.
He said the two GAM members killed were Johan, 30, and Fijai, 27.
"However, we also shot dead three soldiers in the incident," he said.
In East Aceh, GAM spokesman Ishak Daud called on local authorities and the representative of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to look after councillor Ghazali Usman who was abducted by GAM last month, because he was in a bad state of health.
"We invite local authorities and the ICRC representative to come to GAM Headquarters in the regency to take the councillor to the hospital because he is suffering from a serious disease," he said.