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The TNI also said the 144th Infantry Battalion, to which the soldiers were posted, was being withdrawn from the war-torn province following the incident, in which another three Lawang villagers from Bireuen regency were injured last Tuesday.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.