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TITLE: Violence Ahead of New Truce Leaves Two People Dead in Aceh |
AUTHOR: |
PUB: AFP |
DATE: January 15, 2001 |
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Two people were killed and 10 injured in violence ahead of a new truce between government and rebel forces in the restive Indonesian province of Aceh, a report said here Monday. Soldiers shot a civilian dead after he attacked a policeman with a machete in Luengputu in Pidie district on Sunday, Assistant Superintendant Restu Mulyana of the Pidie police told the Serambi daily. The policeman suffered serious cuts and was being treated at the general hospital in Sigli town, Mulyana added. The family of the dead attacker said he was mentally unstable. In the neighbouring district of North Aceh, one policeman was killed and another injured in two separate ambushes on police by armed gunmen on Sunday, Serambi said. A truce between goverment forces and separatist rebels from the Aceh Merdeka movement (GAM) was due to expire on Monday, to be replaced by a new one agreed in talks in Geneva last week. The two sides agreed to a month-long moratorium on violence in the province to expire on February 15. GAM has been fighting since the mid-1970s for an independent sultanate in resource-rich Aceh province on the northern tip of Sumatra island. Separatist sentiment has been fuelled by almost a decade of harsh military operations and broken promises of autonomy by successive regimes in Jakarta, which has flatly ruled out independence for Aceh.Almost 60 people have been killed in violence in Aceh since the beginning of the year. Police came under fire in the province on Sunday. In the first ambush, on a police patrol in Cunda Lhokseumawe one died and another received a gunshot wound to the stomach, North Aceh district police chief, Adjutant Senior Commissioner Wanto Sumardi told Serambi. In a second ambush at least 10 armed gunmen attacked the district police headquarters in Lhokseumawe late Sunday, but despite a 20-minute exchange of fire, no casualties were reported. A coastal police post was also attacked from the sea late Sunday but again noone was injured, Sumardi added. In Samalanga, North Aceh, at least four civilians injured by stray bullets were rushed to hospital after rebel forces attacked a police outpost. "We carried out the ambush and attack after security personnel had torched houses," said the rebel's district deputy chief, Sofyan Daud. Three policemen were also injured Sunday in West Aceh when rebels ambushed another patrol going after three armed men carrying out illegal road checks, police chief, Adjuntant Senior Commissioner Her Aris Sumarman, said. Two more policemen were injured in another ambush in the Beutong area Sunday, Serambi said, quoting a police source. END |