Troops questioned over violence
Troops questioned over violence
The Jakarta Post, Tiarma Siboro, Lhokseumawe
The Indonesian Military (TNI) says it is investigating four
soldiers in relation to the killing of a civilian in Aceh.
The TNI also said the 144th Infantry Battalion, to which the
soldiers were posted, was being withdrawn from the war-torn
province following the incident, in which another three Lawang
villagers from Bireuen regency were injured last Tuesday.
Aceh Military Command spokesman Lt. Col. Ahmad Yani Basuki
said military police had questioned the soldiers and conducted a
two-day, on-site investigation in relation to the death.
However, Yani said the death was not the main reason the
battalion was pulling out of Aceh, saying the soldiers were
exhausted after almost a year of duty in the province.
"But we did question four of the battalion members over the
alleged violence in Lawang village," Yani told a press
conference.
He said the operational commander of the military operation in
Aceh, Brig. Gen. Bambang Darmono, would hold a media conference
on Monday to explain details of the withdrawal.
The 144th Battalion is part of the Sriwijaya Military Command
based in the South Sumatra capital of Palembang. A battalion
consists of around 700 troops.
Yani said a reporter with private TV channel RCTI was involved
in the investigation. A group of journalists went to the scene of
the incident two days after it occurred.
The military officer said the soldiers were implicated in the
violence, which took place when the troops conducted identity
checks in the search for Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatists
believed to be hiding in the village.
Yani said the villager, Abu Bakar, was shot and killed as he
tried to escape the identification check as soldiers thought he
was a GAM member. Witnesses told RCTI the man was beaten by the
troops before he was shot.
The three people injured in the incident are being treated at
the Fauziah general hospital. Yani did not say how they were
injured.
Bireuen is known as a stronghold of GAM, which has been
fighting for independence since 1976.
People living in the villages surrounding Lawang, and in
Lawang itself, were forced to abandon their homes to seek safety
in mosques for fear of possible TNI attacks. Most of these
residents have no identity cards.
In many areas, GAM has conducted operations to seize
identification cards from people.
The TNI has previously investigated a report of civilian
casualties at Cot Ijo village, also in Bireuen. The military
concluded the investigation by saying it killed GAM members, not
civilians as claimed by some media.
TNI headquarters has moved to sue the Koran Tempo daily
newspaper for printing a story sourced from AFP in relation to
the attack that left 10 people dead, including a 13-year-old
semi-retarded boy.
The military operation, which entered its 13th day on Sunday,
was marked by the shooting of Lhokseumawe municipality secretary,
Bachtiar, by suspected GAM members as he drove to the provincial
capital of Banda Aceh. Bachtiar suffered bullet wounds to his
legs. He was admitted to Sigli hospital.
The attack came after the administrator of martial law in
Aceh, Maj. Gen. Endang Suwarya, pledged to continue the assaults
on GAM bases across the province.
As of Sunday, the TNI says it has killed more than 100 rebels,
while the military and police have lost 13 personnel. It says 15
civilians have been killed, mostly by the rebels.
Meanwhile, students in Bireuen will have to wait for at least
a year before reconstruction of their burned schools is
completed.
Bireuen regent Mustafa A. Glanggang said the local
administration had allocated Rp 2.5 billion to build temporary
buildings, with each school receiving between Rp 5 million and Rp
6 million.
For now the students would have to study in mosques or use
classrooms at other schools, he said.
The local administration has begun the reconstruction.
In Bireuen alone, 126 of 232 elementary school, 38 junior high
schools and 14 senior high schools have been burned down. GAM and
the TNI blame each other.