Banda Aceh – At least four people, including two soldiers, were killed in the latest violence to hit the Indonesian province of Aceh, the military and local residents said Thursday.
The two soldiers were shot dead in a rebel ambush in Juli Keude Dua, Bireun district, on Wednesday, said the head of their army battalion, Lieutenant Colonel Erda Bachtiar.
One civilian was also killed, shot dead by soldiers, and more than 100 houses and shops torched as security forces combed the area after the ambush to look for the attackers, a resident said. At least eight other civilians were injured in the operations.
North Aceh police chief Adjutant Commissioner Wanto Sumardi blamed separatist rebels of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) for the deaths of the soldiers.
But North Aceh GAM commander, Teungku Darwis Djeunib, denied that his men were to blame for the incident. "The attack was done by their own men," Djeunib said, charging that the incident had been staged to show the GAM in a bad light.
He said that since the government and rebel forces agreed on a one month moratorium on violence in Aceh effective last week, his men had all been pulled back to their jungle base.
"The decision to pull out our troops is in line with the order of the GAM leadership overseas and GAM troops are not allowed to leave [their base], even more so, to engage in violence," Djeunib said.
Agreement on the truce, which expires February 15, was reached in a meeting in Switzerland between the exile GAM leadership and the Indonesian government.
The fourth person was killed when a suspected GAM member was shot dead during an exchange of fire involving Indonesian soldiers and police in Blang Me, in West Aceh late on Tuesday evening, West Aceh police chief, Adjutant Senior Commissioner Bambang Ramlan said. Ramlan said the exchange of fire broke out after gunmen ambushed a passing security patrol. A rifle was found in the hands of the dead man, he added.
More than 10 villagers watching TV at a local roadside coffee stall were arrested following the clash, a journalist said from the district town of Meulaboh.
Six villagers were also arrested in Luengputu, Pidie district on Wednesday, after unkown gunmen wounded a policeman there earlier in the day, Pidie Police Chief Adjutant Senior Commissioner Heru Budi Ersanto said.
The GAM has been fighting since the mid-1970s for an independent Islamic state on the northern tip of Sumatra island. More than 1,000 people died last year in violence related to clashes between the GAM and government troops in Aceh.
Pressure for a vote on self-rule has intensified since East Timor's breakaway from Indonesia last year after a UN-conducted ballot on self determination. Jakarta has ruled out independence for Aceh but pledged broad autonomy.