170 Acehnese civilians killed so far

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia, June 21 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - More than 170 civilians have become casualties in the first month of Indonesia's military offensive against rebels in Aceh province, a human rights group report said Saturday, June 21.

In a report released by its branch office in Aceh Saturday, the Commission on Missing Persons and Victims of Violence (Kontras) said, as of June 18 a total of 176 civilians in 12 districts in Aceh had become victims of "extra judicial killings."

"Based on data obtained from the field, corpses of these civilians had borne gunshot wounds. This shows that an unlawful execution process has taken place," the report said, according to Agence France-Presse (AFP).

It said another 151 civilians in the 12 districts had either been arrested or assaulted while 15 others had gone missing.

The Jakarta-based rights group said it based its report on compiled media reports and its own investigations.

The Indonesian military is in its second month of a major offensive against the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) after the government put Aceh under martial law on May 19.

Although the  report did not name any party responsible for the killings or human rights abuse, it blamed the government's imposition of martial law as the cause.

Civilian victims "clearly cannot be blamed" on the current martial law: military

"The above facts showed that martial law has failed to suppress the death toll of non-combatant civilians," the report said.

Amnesty, in a weekend report, urged both sides to make protection of civilians a priority and said it is gravely concerned that martial law will make abuses more likely.

Commenting on the report, Aceh military operations spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Firdaus Komarno, said civilian victims "clearly cannot be blamed" on the current martial law because it was imposed as "a government order which aims to stop GAM activities" in Aceh.

Both the military and GAM have accused each other of human rights violations in the current offensive.

The Indonesian military said Saturday, May 24, it is investigating reports that its soldiers had killed civilians during an operation to crush separatists in Aceh province.

National police spokesman Zainuri Lubis said Friday that the (more than100 civilians) victims have been identified by their families, who denied they were GAM members.

The Indonesian Red Cross said it had collected 194 bodies since the start of the operation, but did not say whether they were believed to be civilians or rebels.

According to military figures, 225 rebels have now been killed and about 300 more arrested or surrendered since May 19. Some 28 security personnel have died.

The Kontras report also said that about 40,919 Acehnese in ten districts had fled their homes and lived in tented camps in 16 refugee camps.

It said some 550 schools across the province had also been burned to the ground in the first month of offensive.

Meanwhile, the military reported Saturday that security forces had shot dead eight rebels in separate clashes Thursday and Friday.

In a related development , provincial chief prosecutor Teuku Nasruddin Lufti said Saturday that the trial of five GAM negotiators arrested by police last month could start early next month.

The five, whom police arrested on the eve of the failed crucial peace talks in Tokyo, will face charges of subversion and terrorism, which are punishable by death, Lufti told AFP.