Troops kill three suspected rebels in troubled Aceh

Troops kill three suspected rebels in troubled Aceh

JAKARTA (JP): Troops killed three people and injured one more
in a military raid on the suspected rebel base in the troubled
province of Aceh on Saturday, security authorities said.

The National Police information office said in a statement on
Saturday that the three suspected rebels were killed in an
exchange of gunfire in Matang Seujuk village, some 45 kilometers
east of the North Aceh capital of Lhokseumawe.

A separatist rebel group leader, Teuku Hidayatullah, however,
claimed that his soldiers killed 12 police officers. He admitted
that three of his group were missing.

Head of riot troops Col. Arsikin identified the dead rebels as
Hamdani Abdullah, Suheri and Bukhori.

The police statement said a soldier, First Sgt. Rahmat Ali,
was slightly injured in the shootout. He was rushed to a local
military hospital.

It added that the wounded rebel, identified as Nasruddin Ali,
was arrested by the North Aceh Police.

Police said Matang Seujuk village was suspected as the
separatist stronghold and it was put under surveillance on
Friday.

A team of Mobile Brigade personnel, marines and army troops
were then sent to raid the village on early Saturday, police
said.

Police said at least two rifles, hundreds of bullets and two
flags of the Free Aceh separatist movement were seized in the
raid.

Violence has been on the rise in North Aceh, East Aceh and
Pidie where more than 70 people, including 41 civilians, were
killed in attacks and counterattacks between the military and the
alleged members of the Free Aceh separatist movement since May.

North Aceh, East Aceh and Pidie are the regencies which had
been worst affected by a decade of antirebel operations during
which the military was accused of widespread human rights abuses.

Calls for a referendum on self-determination and an election
boycott have been the strongest in North Aceh, East Aceh and
Pidie.

The separatist members have been accused by the military of
intimidating residents to boycott the elections. They also have
been accused of intimidating the migrant settlers to leave their
villages.

Thousands of Acehnese, however, have also fled to school
buildings and mosques in Pidie, North Aceh and East Aceh recently
for fear of heavy military presence in their villages.

A humanitarian group unveiled on Saturday that the number of
refugees had surpassed 36,000 thus far, with hundreds seeking
shelter in Medan, the capital of North Sumatra.

One of the group's activists, Rina Syamsuddin, said most of
the refugees had flooded Peurlak, Ulim and Ulee Glee
subdistricts, all in Pidie.

Maluku

Separately, one man was killed and 12 others injured as fresh
violence broke out in Southeast Maluku on Sunday with attacks on
a Christian village, spreading tension to other areas.

Antara quoted Hati Kudus Langgur Hospital sources as
identifying the casualty as 70-year-old Christopol Yamlean, who
died from an explosion of a home-made bomb.

The agency reported that at least nine motorized canoes
attacked the village of Waab in Kei Kecil district before dawn on
Sunday and encountered armed resistance from the predominantly
Christian villagers there.

The attackers were believed to have come from the island of
Ut, some two hours by boat to the north, the news agency said.

It added that the Southeast Maluku district Police chief
accompanied by the district military chief have gone to Waab.

But reports of the violence sparked tension in the Southeast
Maluku capital of Tual with groups of people beginning to gather
on the streets and soldiers, who had been deployed from Java
since Muslim-Christian violence rocked the area in March, put on
standby across town, Antara said.

Southeast Maluku, and particularly Tual, have been rocked by
violent clashes between Muslims and Christians that left more
than 130 people dead since March.

The violence spread there following similar clashes in Ambon,
the capital of the province, which broke out in mid-January. At
least 350 people have been killed in the sectarian violence in
Ambon and other Maluku islands.(39/46/byg)