Six more bodies found in Aceh

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.