Jakarta – Two Indonesian soldiers were killed and six injured when they were attacked by 10 armed men in the troubled province of Aceh Friday, the state news agency Antara said.
The troops were killed in a 45-minute shoot-out when they were ambushed as they returned to the provincial capital Banda Aceh after guarding a delayed general election vote in Lamno, district military commander Colonel Syariffudin Tippe said.
Earlier police told AFP by telephone from Banda Aceh that six soldiers had been wounded. They were taken to hospitals nearby. Earlier in the week, four policemen were killed earlier in north Aceh.
The province is home to the Aceh Merdeka (Free Aceh) movement, which has been fighting for an Islamic state since the mid 1970s and is said by the military to have threatened voters and officials in this week's poll.
Separatists and their sympathizers called for a boycott of Monday's election, demanding a referendum on the province's future instead.
On election day, polling stations in three districts either remained closed or failed to attract any voters. Efforts to hold a new vote on Tuesday and Wednesday also failed.
On Friday the national election commission approved a proposal to again try to hold a vote in Pidie, North Aceh and East Aceh, an election official told AFP by telephone. He added the date was yet to be announced.
Meanwhile, military spokesman Major General Syamsul Maarif said Friday that a member of Aceh Merdeka (GAM) masquerading as a soldier had been arrested for spying on police in north Aceh.
Irwan bin Baharuddin Noor, 26, had first told Lhokseumawe police he was a member of the elite military Kopassus force, which have fought the province's separatists for a decade.
"After further investigations he finally admitted that he was actually a GAM sympathizer," Maarif told a press conference here. Noor also admitted to being paid by GAM leader Ismail Syahputra to encourage a boycott of the elections and to mar the military's image.
"The military has pulled out all Kopassus from Aceh ... but this whole incident shows that the people of Aceh want to believe that Kopassus is still there despite what has been reported," Maarif said.
The military planned to keep the Mass Riot Control Troops (PPRM) deployed in Aceh since May until the planned General Assembly scheduled for November, he added.
At least 60 people, including 41 civilians shot by police in Lhokseumawe on May 3, have been killed in Aceh since early May.
Resentment against the military and government has escalated following alleged widespread human rights abuses by soldiers during a decade of military operations which ended last year.