Five dead as police, rebels clash in Aceh

Five dead as police, rebels clash in Aceh
AGENCE FRANCE PRESSE

BANDA ACEH (INDONESIA), FEBRUARY 2: At least five people were killed in Indonesia's unruly province of Aceh as a police spokesman said security forces had launched a new offensive against separatist rebels there today.

A soldier and a civilian were killed in armed skirmishes between security forces and suspected members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in the Matangkuli area of north Aceh district yesterday, local military chief Lt Col Suyanto said.

Suyanto said the civilian was killed by a stray bullet.

Troops torched several houses in the area in a sweep to hunt down guerrilla members after the clashes, residents said.

But rebel spokesman Ismail Syahputra claimed 31 members of security forces were killed in the fighting.

"They (soldiers) had come to the area in 17 motorcycles and two trucks. Our troops sprayed the trucks with bullets," Syahputra said.

Meanwhile, Aceh police spokesman Sayed Husaini said security personnel could no longer afford to use defensive measures in the face of intensifying armed attacks by separatist rebels.

"Starting February one, a full offensive has been in force," Husaini told journalists here.

Husaini said the new operation to hunt down rebels involved personnel from the elite mobile brigade police unit and police bomb-defusing squads, adding that soldiers would serve as reinforcements when needed.