Banda Aceh – Two Indonesian Military (TNI) personnel, two alleged members of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and three civilians died in armed conflict here on Wednesday and Thursday, a military officer said on Thursday.

TNI spokesman in Aceh province Maj. Zaenal Mutaqin said Sgt. Maj. Teuku Amir of Banda Sakti Subdistrict Military Command was shot by two armed men in front of a bank in Lhokseumawe, North Aceh, on Thursday morning. He died later in the day at LilawangsaMilitary Hospital in Lhokseumawe.

Another soldier, Corp. Sukri, died in a clash with GAM members at Lhong village in Aceh Besar regency, some 40 kilometers southeast of Banda Aceh on Wednesday. Two colleagues of Sukri were wounded by gunshots, said TNI spokesman in Banda Aceh Maj. Ertoto.

Ertoto claimed that two GAM members died in a clash with TNI troops at Panga village in West Aceh, some 160 kilometers southeast of Banda Aceh. One of the two victims was identified as Tengku Hasbi, 40. But, a GAM leader in the Lhong and Panga area said the two victims in Panga were not GAM members, but civilians.

Also in West Aceh, armed men launched an attack on the residence of Blang Teungoh village's chief in Kuala subdistrict, killing the village chief Kechik Zulkifli, 50. Meanwhile, two of Kechik's daughters – Hasnizar, 25, and Farjani Nelisa, 2 – are in a critical condition and are now being treated at Cut Nyak Dhien Hospital in Meulaboh, an activist with the Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) said.

In North Aceh a contractor for state gas company PT Arun NGL Co., identified as Usman Yusuf, 26, died after being shot by two unidentified men on Wednesday. Zaenal believed the two were GAM members. Local GAM spokesman Tengku Jamaika accused the military troops of having killed Usman.

Meanwhile, in Bireuen regency, a male corpse was found with neck wounds at the roadside in Gandapura subdistrict on Wednesday, a PMI activist said.