Jakarta – At least 4,000 people have fled their villages in the troubled Indonesian province of Aceh fearing violence following a deadly rebel ambush which left four dead, officials and police said Saturday.
"There are about 3,000 refugees from six villages in the Biruen sub-district now sheltered at the Teupinmaneh mosque, 10 kilometres from here," said an official of the Bireun sub-district administration in North Aceh.
A further 1,000 refugees arrived in Lhokseumawe, the main town in North Aceh on Friday, the Antara news agency said.
The Bireun official, who declined to identify himself, said the refugees left their village fearing violence following the ambush in Alue Kuta in neighbouring Peudada sub-district on Tuesday, which left two policemen, a doctor and a nurse shot dead.
"They fear violence if security operations look for the attackers," the official said. "They are mostly Javanese settlers who are fleeing intimidation and terror of groups advocating a boycott of the elections," Bireun sub-district police chief First Lieutenant Trunoyudo told AFP.
The Antara news agency said an estimated 450 families, from four government migrant resettlement units in Bireun and Peudada subdistricts, arrived in Lhokseumawe Friday.
"They have fled not because they were expelled by the rebels but just to avoid the possibility of armed contacts between the rebels and the PPRM," an official of the state resettlement program was quoted as saying by Antara.
He was referring to Mass Riot Control Troops (PPRM) which were deployed in Aceh earlier this month. Two PPRM troops were killed in Tuesday's ambush.
Aceh is home to the Aceh Merdeka (Free Aceh) movement which has been fighting for an Islamic state since the mid 1970s.
The separatist movement there has prompted Jakarta to conduct a decade of anti-rebel military operations in Aceh which were only halted last year.
Resentment and hatred against the Indonesian military and government has since escalated following alleged widespread human rights abuses by soldiers during military operations.