Jakarta – Over 100 civilians in Indonesia's East Aceh regency were assaulted by Indonesian police and soldiers who went on a rampage of shooting and arson in retaliation for the death of a fellow soldier, a local daily Serambi Indonesia reported yesterday.

East Aceh Police Chief Supt. Abdullah Hayati confirmed the incident, but said his subordinates were only acting "emotionally and in panic" when villagers in the town of Idi Rayeuk would not tell them where the soldier's killers were hiding.

On Sunday, Pte Ahmad Ridwan Siagian was slain in a fish market in Idi Rayeuk, while his colleague Pte Try Sugianto was injured. The attackers also stole the soldiers' guns.

Quoting local hospital figures, the daily reported that over 100 civilians were hospitalised with broken bones and gunshot wounds, including eight-and 12-year-old girls and a 10-year-old boy. Angry security forces also torched the fish market when they failed to locate the soldier's killers, the paper said.

The daily quoted members of the pro-independence guerilla group Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in the area as denying the attacks against the soldiers. "During the humanitarian pause, GAM members don't hang around in town, let alone making attacks," Abu Khalifah, a GAM spokesman in the area, was quoted as saying, referring to the May 12 agreement between Jakarta and GAM to halt all violence in Aceh from June 2 to September 2 to allow the entry of humanitarian aid.

The daily also reported that violence broke out on Sunday in the village of Desa Tanjong Meunjee in North Aceh regency's Tanah Jambo Aye district, leaving two men dead. Police there accused the victims of being rebels, but a GAM spokesman in the area denied it, saying they were civilians. Both GAM and Jakarta are charged with conveying humanitarian help to needy people during the humanitarian pause.