Banda Aceh – At least three people were killed and four others were wounded in the latest violence between separatist rebels and government forces in the Indonesian province of Aceh, a report said Wednesday.
Two rebels were shot dead during a clash in the Jeumpa sub-district of North Aceh on Tuesday, police Adjunct Senior Commissioner Wanto Sumardi told the Banda Aceh-based Serambi daily. The fighting erupted after a convoy of ten motorcycles refused to stop at a military checkpoint and riders opened fire on the security personnel, Sumardi said.
In the Simpang Arjun area of Bireun district, some 20 armed gunmen ambushed a vehicle carrying soldiers and left one soldier wounded, Sumardi said.
In South Aceh, villagers found the badly charred body of a man in a ravine in the Gunung Tangga Besi on Monday, a member of the local Indonesian Red Cross said. No further details were immediately available.
A man believed to be a local commander of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) was arrested on Tuesday in Semantok village in West Aceh, police Adjunct Senior Commissioner Sad Harunantyo was quoted by Serambi as saying.
Teungku Ali, 44, was arrested by a joint police and military patrol after he attempted to flee on his motorcycle after being hailed by the patrol, Harunantyo said.
Ali, who is believed to be the local GAM commander, is under treatment at the general hospital in Meulaboh after villagers who helped police arrest him beat him up, he added.
Clashes also broke out in three subdistricts of North Aceh – Meurah Mulia, Muara Dua and Nissam – on Tuesday but there were no reports of casualties, Sumardi said.
Jakarta has stepped up military operations in Aceh in the past weeks, especially in North Aceh which is home to the huge Arun gas field where oil and gas operations have been temprorarily halted amid security concerns.
The government has poured in troops and police to safeguard the area and allow it to resume its oil and gas operations. The stoppage has already caused heavy losses in revenues to the government.
GAM has been fighting for a free Islamic state in Aceh since the mid-1970s. Jakarta sent 1,100 fresh troops to Aceh last month to launch a security operation against the GAM, after a year of talks between the government and rebels which resulted in a series of shaky truces between the two sides. But the truces failed to curtail the violence which has claimed more than 500 lives this year.