Ten more killed in fresh clashes in Aceh

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.