Banda Aceh – At least eight people were killed and 18 others injured in the latest violence to rack the troubled Indonesian province of Aceh, police and residents said yesterday. Two explosive devices, believed to be hand grenades, were thrown at a guard post at a fertiliser plant near the main town of the North Aceh district, Lhokseumawe, on Monday night. Four soldiers, two company security guards and 11 civilians were injured, a local journalist said.
In another incident, a group of unidentified men threw two hand grenades into a fuel depot of the state oil and gas company Pertamina in North Aceh's Banda Sakti sub-district late on Monday evening, North Aceh Police Chief Lt-Colonel Syafei Aksal said. The explosions did not cause serious damage, he said.
Aceh has been wracked by a series of violent incidents over the weekend. A village chief in Pidie district was shot dead on the terrace of his house around midnight on Sunday, a family member said.
In another village in the area, a man was gunned down by unidentified assailants on a motorcycle, according to Pidie district police chief Lt-Col Endang Emiqail Bagus.
Mr Muhammad Hamid, 47, was also shot dead by two motorcyclists while waiting for public transport in Lhoksukon, North Aceh, on Sunday, while another victim was abducted on Saturday, and was found hanging from a beam in a small prayer room of a restaurant in West Aceh, on Sunday.
The body of a man with stab wounds was also discovered in Meulaboh on Sunday and taken to the local state hospital. He too had been kidnapped from his home by armed men on Saturday, local police said.
In Banda Aceh, six masked and armed men forced their way into the National Land Affairs office, rounded up four security guards and set up two bombs in the building. They also sprinkled kerosene on the walls and floor. Only one of the bombs exploded, damaging two rooms but caused no casualties since the building was unoccupied, Aceh Besar district police chief Lt-Col Sayed Husaini said.
More than 300 people have been killed this year in clashes on Aceh between Indonesian troops and the rebels and their supporters.