Violence in Bireuen regency continues
Violence in Bireuen regency continues
Tertiani ZB Simanjuntak, The Jakarta Post, Lhokseumawe, Aceh
The bedug (large drum) outside the small mosque in Ujung Blang
village, Gandapura district, Bireuen, pounded incessantly on
Tuesday, signaling that the remains of another victim of
Indonesia's brutal war in Aceh had been found.
Curious residents soon gathered at a wooden house where two
bodies were laid out pending burial.
A woman, Asmaul, 20, was weeping for the death of her mother,
Wardani Ibrahim, 48, and sister Nurlina, 25, who were both shot
by a group of unidentified people as they were leaving for the
market to sell traditional cookies early in the morning.
Asmaul will now go to live with her grandmother. Her father
passed away in 1996 of an illness.
"Why were they killed? The family had only been selling timpan
tepu (traditional food) to survive since the death of Wardani's
husband," one of the neighbors said.
The attackers opened fire at Wardani and Nurlina as they were
riding a motorcycle on Jl. Ulee Tutu in Tingkeuem Baruonly, near
the main road connecting the Aceh capital of Banda Aceh and the
neighboring provincial capital of Medan. The mother was shot in
the chest, while Nurlila was shot in the head and abdomen from
close range.
Gandapura Police chief Second Insp. Ramlis accused the Free
Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels of committing the murders. The victims
used to sell their timpan tepu to troops in the Kuta Blang area.
"The soldiers often bought food from them, so they may have
been taken for cuak (collaborators), or perhaps they were killed
because they refused to give the money demanded by GAM," Ramlis
said.
He said the same modus operandi was used in the murder of
Budiman Chamsyah, a businessman from Gandapura district, on
Monday for reportedly refusing to pay protection money demanded
by GAM.
However, witnesses said one of the two men who shot Budiman
wore a red-and-white bandana and had a small red-and-white flag
attached to the muzzle of his rifle.
Ramlis refused to comment on this allegation, saying the
police were investigating both murder cases.
Later on Tuesday, the Gandapura branch of the Indonesian Red
Cross (PMI) unearthed a grave containing the remains of an
unidentified man in a remote area surrounded by shrimp ponds in
Blang Re. The nearest village, Samuti Krueng, is about two
kilometers away from the grave.
The partly decomposed body had been shot in the leg and
abdomen. His face, which had been covered by a sarong, was no
longer recognizable. Bullet casings were also found inside the
grave.
The body was that of a man in his 30s, 1.65 meters in height,
light complexion, and wearing a beard and moustache. According to
the PMI's Gandapura coordinator, Nurdin, the body may have been
in the ground for up six days.
It was the fifth grave containing unidentified remains
discovered in the district in the last two days.
The graves of four unidentified men were exhumed on Monday in
two different locations. All the victims had been shot.
No one has so far claimed the bodies.
As of Monday, the state-run Dr. Fauziah Hospital in Bireuen
had treated 32 civilian victims, 12 of them suffering from
gunshot wounds.
The hospital's morgue had also received 37 bodies, most of
them civilians.
According to morgue attendant, Bahroem, the bodies had been
buried in Karang Rejo cemetery in Jeumpa district.