TNI claims to have killed 25 GAM rebels in two 'bloody' days

TNI claims to have killed 25 GAM rebels in two 'bloody' days

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Security personnel shot dead at least 25 rebels in two of the
bloodiest days of the military offensive against the Free Aceh
Movement (GAM), the Indonesian Military (TNI) said on Thursday.

Meanwhile, the military has deployed its medical personnel to
provide health aid for Acehnese people taking refuge in many
districts in the province.

Three rebels were shot dead in a midday gunfight in Aceh Besar
district on Thursday, a military officer was quoted by AFP as
saying.

Separately, a Mobile Brigade squad commander said his troops
shot dead a suspected rebel who tried to flee after his arrest in
the regency.

The deaths came in addition to 21 other rebels reportedly
killed during eleven gunfights over the last two days, said
spokesman for the martial law administration Col. (Navy) Ditya
Soedarsono.

According to military figures issued before the latest deaths
were recorded, 481 rebels have been killed and 210 firearms
seized since the launching of the military operation on May 19.
Authorities say 992 rebels have been captured or surrendered,
with the loss of 43 military and police officers.

GAM has claimed that many of those killed by the military are
civilians. Independent confirmation of reports by either side is
difficult after restrictions were imposed on the movement of
reporters and non-government organizations in Aceh.

Ditya also said that as of Thursday, the Aceh Police had filed
dossiers on 120 of 154 suspected GAM members with the government
prosecutor's office as part of law enforcement operations in the
province.

So far, the police had detained 277 suspected members of the
separatist movement, he added.

The local court has given its verdict on only three alleged
GAM members.

Ditya also said that at least 1,400 Acehnese refugees in a
number of districts in Aceh province were receiving health
services every day.

Most were children or the elderly suffering from dermatitis,
coughs and respiratory problems, he said.

If medical equipment were considered inadequate to serve the
needs of patients at refuge camps, patients were taken to the
nearest hospital, he said, adding that, so far, 65 refugees had
been hospitalized.

Ditya warned that the number of displaced people would likely
continue to increase in the coming days, given the military's
attempt to sterilize villages that were GAM bases.

Amid the military offensive, thousands of Indonesian flags
have already been raised in the provincial capital of Banda Aceh
in observance of the 58th anniversary of Indonesia's
independence, which falls on Aug. 17.

Residents of the city have raised the Indonesian flag, as they
were ordered by the martial law administration to do.

Aceh Police chief Insp. Gen. Bachrumsyah Kasman claimed that
GAM members had scattered following the intensive offensive.

"If there is robbery, arson or shooting at people, it means
that GAM members are suffering from hunger and panic," he said.

The New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ), in
a report issued Thursday, said U.S.-inspired press restrictions
and controls on foreigners in the province had made it almost
impossible to learn "anything of substance" about the conflict.

"Despite a generally free press since the ouster of former
dictator Soeharto in 1998, the Indonesian Military's
implementation of U.S.-inspired policies has turned Aceh into one
of the most restrictive places in the world for the press," the
report said.