Ten more killed in fresh clashes in Aceh

Ibnu Mat Noor, The Jakarta Post, Banda Aceh

At least 10 people were killed in a series of incidents in the province of Aceh on Tuesday, an official and humanitarian activist said in the capital of Banda Aceh on Wednesday.

Indonesian Military (TNI) spokesman for Aceh's Security and Order Operation Maj. Zaenal Mutaqin, said that two of the 10 fatalities were members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) who were killed in a armed clash in Pasi Teubesi village in Teunom district, West Aceh.

"We retrieved a Korea-made grenade from the two casualties," the officer said.

In East Aceh, a body of a man aged around 25-years-old was found with his throat slit in Rabatu Pauh village of Rantau Selamat district in West Aceh on Tuesday, the officer said, adding that the body had been taken to Langsa General Hospital.

Two more corpses were found in a social project area in Syamtalira Bayu district of North Aceh; one of whom was later identified as Saiful, 21, a resident of Lebok Tuwe Jungka Gajah village while the other man remained unidentified.

The Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) also removed four bodies, all bearing gunshot wounds, from the sites of several incidents on Tuesday, humanitarian activist Arahman Djuli said.

Meanwhile, a retired military officer, 58-year-old Marzuki Ahmad who was once chief of Lhoknga Military Battalion in Aceh Besar was shot dead by two gunmen riding a motorbike in Lampeunerut village around 15 kilometers south of Banda Aceh on Tuesday morning.

The military suspect that GAM was behind the killing, but GAM's spokesman in Banda Aceh, Ayah Sofyan, quickly rebuffed the accusation. "The killing may have been done by the military themselves," Ayah charged.

Officer Zaenal also said that on Tuesday afternoon GAM rebels tossed a grenade at a security post guarded by the Police Mobile Brigade (Brimob) in Krueng Geukeuh market in North Aceh, injuring four people.

The military also managed to capture two GAM members, one in North Aceh and one in Aceh Besar, he said.

Meanwhile, GAM spokesman in East Aceh, Ishak Daud, claimed that on Tuesday rebels had attacked a convoy of Brimob troops in Peureulak village. He said there were many victims. Police sources confirmed the attack, but said only a few people suffered minor injuries as the police truck slipped into a ditch and there was no gunfire.

Violence in Aceh has intensified in the past few days. During the first eight days of 2002, at least 30 people have been killed in various incidents in the restive province.

GAM rebels have been engaged in guerrilla warfare since the mid-1970s in an attempt to create an independent Islamic state, distinct from Indonesia, which is the world's most populous Muslim country.

Thousands have died, mostly civilians, in the conflicts between security forces and the separatist rebels.