Banda Aceh – Seven people were killed in Indonesia's troubled Aceh province, police and residents said Monday, as government and separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) representatives headed for a fresh round of talks in Switzerland.
Two civilians – a student and a fisherman – were gunned down around 3pm by troops during a rebel search operation in Alue Kumba area of East Aceh, a local journalist told AFP. "The two were shot dead while trying to flee from the troops when they entered the area in three trucks."
Also in East Aceh, two men were arrested and tortured by troops after GAM rebels attacked the Idie police sub-district headquarters late Sunday, the journalist said. He added that one of the detainees had lost an eye before police released both men Monday afternoon. Police were not immediately available for comment on the incidents.
The new violence was reported after two GAM representatives left here Monday for a two-day meeting with Indonesian officials in Switzerland. Talks are expected to start Wednesday on a possible extension of their one-month "moratorium on violence."
The moratorium, due to expire Thursday, was reached after the two sides entered a six-month-long shaky truce in June last year, in an effort to reduce violence in this oil-and-gas rich province.
In a meeting of the two sides in Banda Aceh on Saturday, GAM and government teams signed a four-point agreement – including a liaison between field commanders – in an effort to enforce the truce, which has done little to reduce the violence.
On Sunday, Abdul Muthalib bin Amin, a GAM commander in the Peureulak area of East Aceh district, was shot dead by Indonesian troops when they raided his home in Bayeun sub-district, said local GAM spokesman Ishak Daud.
"The troops entered Muthalib's home and shot him dead. They also ransacked his house and made off with 40 million rupiah [four thousand dollars]," said Daud, adding the victim had owned a rubber plantation.
The troops also killed two other residents who had been rounded up along with dozens of residents for an ID check, Daud told AFP by telephone.
But Aceh police operational spokesman, Chief Commissioner Kusbini Imbar, claimed the three were GAM members who earlier had ambushed troops.
Another GAM representative, Amri Bin Abdul Wahab, called the killings in East Aceh Sunday "another massacre" by government troops and police.
In the Cote Tuefah area of Gandapura sub-district in North Aceh on Sunday, residents found the bodies of two men bearing torture and bullet injuries, a local journalist said.
The conflict between government forces and GAM guerrillas, who have been fighting for a free Islamic state in the province since the mid-1970s, claimed more than 1,000 lives last year. More than 150 people have died this year.
Pressure for a vote on self-rule in Aceh has intensified since East Timor's breakaway from Indonesia after a UN-conducted ballot on self determination in 1999.
Jakarta has ruled out independence for Aceh but pledged broad autonomy. It also initiated talks with the GAM under the auspices of the Henri Dunand center in Geneva.