Jakarta – Nine more killings were reported in Indonesia's Aceh province, the scene of a decades-old separatist revolt, as US ambassador Ralph Boyce spent a second day there.
Separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels killed one soldier and wounded another in an ambush in the Julok area of East Aceh on Monday, said military spokesman Major Zaenal Muttaqin Tuesday. A local GAM spokesman, Teungku Amri Bin Abdul Wahab, claimed responsibility for the attack, saying the soldiers had been robbing traders in the area.
Two suspected rebels were shot dead in a military raid in Pidie district on Monday, Muttaqin said, adding that a handgun and scores of bullets were seized. In Pidie district, soldiers shot dead two other suspected rebels in the Ulee Gle area on Monday, said district military commander Lieutenant Colonel Supartodi. Witnesses said soldiers shot dead a civilian who refused to stop during a search for rebels in South Aceh on Monday.
Residents in the Ranto Calang area of South Aceh on Monday found an unidentified male body bearing gunshot wounds and torture marks. Humanitarian workers found the bodies of two more men in the Rantau Sialang area of South Aceh the same day.
On Monday a grenade attack blamed by police on GAM injured 12 civilians just two hours before Boyce arrived. The US ambassador is scheduled to make a speech at the state Ar-Raniri Islamic Institute before holding a press conference later on Tuesday.
Indonesian government representatives and the exiled GAM leadership met on February 2 and 3 in Switzerland and agreed to a period of confidence-building during which they will cease hostilities and move towards democratic elections in Aceh in 2004.
But in what rights activists called a setback to the peace process Jakarta on February 5 inaugurated a separate military command for Aceh, a unit which was disbanded 17 years ago. Last Friday Jakarta also renewed a presidential decree authorising military operations in Aceh against the rebels.
GAM has waged a war for independence since 1976 in the energy-rich province on the north of Sumatra island. More than 1,700 people were killed last year alone and some 200 people have already died this year.