Ibnu Mat Noor, Banda Aceh – Two schoolgirls from the same village as the head of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) were abducted and executed by armed gunmen in Pidie regency, Eastern Aceh on Wednesday.
The shocking murder of two unarmed girls comes as new figures show the situation in the resource-rich province is deteriorating, with increasing numbers of civilians being tortured, killed or both. The murdered girls were identified as Novita, 17, and Nural Aida, 18.
Local residents and military officers said two men wearing civilian clothes stopped a public minivan in the village of Gumpueng Tiro and forcibly removed the victims.
The girls, both wearing senior high school uniforms, were taken to nearby forest where they were shot in the head. It is not clear whether the girls were raped before they were killed.
Local residents, who found the bodies after the two gunmen left on motorbikes, brought the girls to Sigli Public Hospital, 12 kilometers from the village. Local residents said the two girls were from Mancang Tiro village, where GAM supreme leader Hassan Tiro was born 78 years ago.
Hassan Tiro, who renounced his Indonesian citizenship and is now a Swedish citizen, has been leading the independence movement since it launched its armed uprising in 1976.
Local military commander Lt. Col. Supartodi confirmed the incident Wednesday afternoon. Supartodi said the two gunmen were from GAM. "They shot the two girls with a pistol," he said without elaborating.
On Tuesday, security personnel killed three suspected GAM rebels in Pidie. Supartodi said six men had attempted to run off after they saw 12 military personnel patrolling near the Raya Sanggeu village in Pidie regency, some 100 kilometers east of Banda Aceh. Supartodi said troops recovered a pistol, a communications radio and a fund-raising letter signed by a high-ranking GAM leader.
Meanwhile, Banda Aceh Legal Aid (LBH) director Rufriadi said Wednesday that from January to August this year alone, the civilian victims of violence in Aceh had reached 3,503, including 974 killings.
Citing data collected by volunteers from LBH Banda Aceh, Rufriadi said at least 1,486 of the victims were tortured, 223 had involuntarily disappeared and 820 were arbitrarily arrested.
He also said that extra-judicial killings rose to 129 cases in August 2002, up from 90 cases in July 2000, while torture victims stood at 164 in August, up from 158 in July.
"The rising number of victims shows that the situation in Aceh is deteriorating, leaving no more place for civilians to move around freely," Rufriadi was quoted by Antara as saying.
Civilians, including women, have always been on the conflict's front line. On August 23 unidentified gunmen murdered a middle-aged headmistress in full view of her horrified pupils.
Government and military officials have blamed GAM for much of the violence in the province, including school burnings and kidnappings.
The administration of President Megawati Soekarnoputri has given GAM leaders till the end of the year to make up their minds as to whether or not they want to continue peace talks.
The administration says that for the talks to resume GAM must accept special autonomy and abandon its quest for independence. If GAM fails to do so, the Indonesian Military (TNI) is likely to step up its campaign of violence in the war-torn province.
Separatist unrest in Aceh on the tip of Sumatra island has been fueled by years of human rights abuses by the military and by the central government's draining of the region's rich oil and gas resources.