Jakarta – Indonesia's military claimed control over the whole of Aceh province yesterday, six weeks after it launched a huge operation to crush separatist rebels.
The armed forces chief, General Endriartono Sutarto, said soldiers still faced attacks from the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), but added: "When it comes to territorial control, it is 100 per cent under our control. However, there are still one or two problems [and] of course we cannot say security is 100 per cent guaranteed," Gen Sutarto was quoted by the state Antara news agency as saying.
Even though the province is under military control, the war against GAM will not be suspended ahead of schedule, he said. He did not give a timeframe, but officials had said they hoped to wind down military operations, which began on May 19, after six months or less.
The army chief, General Ryamizard Ryacudu, said on Tuesday that rebel strength was now down to 600 to 700 from an estimated 5,000 at the start of the operation. He said GAM forces were mostly cornered in isolated hilly areas.
The military said 309 rebels had been killed as of Tuesday, while 682 have surrendered or been captured. GAM said many of those killed were civilians.
GAM previously controlled several areas in the province and ran a de facto civil administration in some districts.
Chief rebel spokesman Sofyan Daud denied his forces were no longer united in the field. "According to us there's no problem. Things are normal," he said in Jakarta.
Yesterday, a pair of rebels posing as customers stole two guns from police guards at a bank in the provincial capital Banda Aceh, reported Antara, quoting city deputy police chief Arie Rachman. One guard received a gunshot wound to the head, Antara said.
On Tuesday, unidentified attackers lobbed two grenades at the North Aceh district administration office in the town of Lhokseumawe. No one was hurt and damage was slight, the military said. Some paramilitary police were sleeping in the building at the time.
Military spokesman Yani Basuki said eight clashes have been reported across the province since Tuesday, with two rebels killed and two captured. One soldier was killed and another injured.
The military continued its search for an Indonesian TV crew missing since Sunday when it left East Aceh for Lhokseumawe. RCTI, the country's first private television station, said reporter Ersa Siregar and cameraman Ferry Santoro had not been heard from since Sunday, when they left for a three-hour journey to Lhokseumawe, an important military base. Commenting on the disappearance of the TV crew, Gen Sutarto said journalists in Aceh "should stick close" to the military.
Last month, cameraman Muhammad Jamal from the state TVRI station was found murdered in Aceh after going missing for almost a month. He had been abducted by unidentified gunmen. The authorities last week detained a US journalist who had been travelling with the rebels. Police have accused him of violating immigration laws.