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Two dead, five injured in Aceh

Source
Agence France Presse - November 16, 1998 (abridged)

Jakarta – Two people were shot dead and five others injured during a five-hour stand off between police and a rebel group in Indonesia's troubled province of Aceh, sources and press reports said Monday.

Second Sargeant Horas Sialagan and Idris, a member of the rebel group, were killed in the raid Sunday in which police failed to capture 47-year-old rebel leader Ahmad Kandang, a resident source told AFP. Kandang reportedly managed to flee his residence in North Aceh's Muara Dua district as scores of local residents flocked in and blocked the police from seizing him.

"Kandang was in the house with his wife, another family member and three loyalists, Idris who was shot dead, and two others who were captured," the source said, adding that police arrested a total of 43 people following the incident during which five people were also injured. Second Sargeant Imran Yusuf and four local residents, including a woman, were also shot and injured during the shootout.

Kompas daily reported that shots were fired from the house when police started to approach it, and that later the supporters of the rebel leader had arrived. During the shootout, which ended some five hours later, angry residents also burned the state-run radio station across the street.

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