Ten people die as violence in Aceh escalates

JAKARTA (JP): Indonesian Military (TNI) Commander Gen. Wiranto defended on Tuesday the presence of anti-riot troops in Aceh, following recent clashes which left nine people dead.

Eight alleged rebels were shot dead in two separate clashes in East Aceh and Central Aceh on Monday, the day bodies of two police were found in East Aceh with severe wounds.

Wiranto repeated the military stance that the troops were deployed to the troubled province to enable locals to feel secure in the wake of armed antigovernment action lead by separatist groups.

"They (the troops) are assigned to restore order, not to engage in combat," Wiranto said.

He was commenting on mounting calls for the government to withdraw security personnel from Aceh's three volatile regencies of Pidie, North Aceh and East Aceh.

Among those who oppose the presence of an armed presence in Aceh is human rights activist Hasballah Saad, who was quoted by Kompas as saying on Monday that the antigovernment movement in Aceh could not be settled through violence.

Violence has intensified despite the dispatch in May of a 1,200-strong joint force composed of police and military troops to Aceh, where over 100 people have been killed in the past three months. Thousands have fled their homes.

Rights groups have said the number of security personnel posted there could reach 10,000.

The spokesman for Bukit Barisan Military Command, which oversees Aceh, Lt. Col. Nurdin Sulistyo, said on Tuesday in Medan, North Sumatra, that riot troops shot dead three alleged rebels in Simpang Alue village in East Aceh and four others on a section of a road linking Bireun and Takengon in Central Aceh during evening gunbattles.

Nurdin said no security personnel were killed or wounded in the clashes.

Another rebel suspect escaped the troops with gunshot wounds in Simpang Alue. Security authorities identified the three killed alleged rebels as Abdullah, alias Keucik Lah, Usman from Seunebok village and Baktiar of Meunasah village. The three were 30 years old.

A two-way radio, three swords, three Free Aceh Movement member cards, a separatist flag and several receipts prepared for donors were found, authorities said.

In Central Aceh, the exchange of gunfire involved riot troops and a group of seven alleged rebels, who fled after their Panther van was caught during a routine patrol. Rebel suspects identified as Tengku Rizal, M. Amin, Ridwan, Muhammad, Ismail Ali and Nurdin were killed in Lampahan market. Their friend, Mukhtar, was arrested with severe wounds, while the other managed to escape.

Tension mounted in villages near the scene on Tuesday following the overnight armed clash.

Chief of Lilawangsa Military Command overseeing Central Aceh and East Aceh, Col. Syafnil Armen, said on Tuesday that security troops had been deployed to hunt down the two escapees, whom he believed were armed with rifles.

Villagers in Aluedai in East Aceh found on Monday the bodies of Sgt. Maj. Parulian Mandalahi, 40, and Second Sgt. Piter Tetani, 21, members of North Aceh Police, in a pickup truck ditched on the side of the main highway linking the provincial capital Banda Aceh to Medan.

Their necks were slashed, Antara reported.

Parulian was from the Lhoksukon police station in the regency, while Piter was a member of the anti riot force posted in the North Aceh capital of Lhokseumawe.

North Aceh Police chief Lt. Col. Iskandar Hasan was not available for comment.

Residents of Aluedai, a poor village 85 kilometers east of natural gas-rich Lhokseumawe, found Parulian's body in the cabin, while Piter's was wrapped in a sack on the truck's bed.

The two bodies were taken by riot troops to the Lhokseumawe military hospital at noon on Tuesday. In an unusually secretive move, journalists were barred from taking pictures of the two fatalities or seeking comments from medical employees.

In Jakarta, Wiranto said he would heed advice from the public regarding a wise resolution of the antigovernment movement in Aceh.

"But it's clear that our decision to send anti-riot troops to Aceh was aimed at helping people regain their feeling of security."

He said disappointments over the government's measures were understandable, mainly because of the complicated nature of the problems in the province.(40/asa/amd)