 wo soldiers were wounded in the incident, Muttaqin told reporters. A local GAM spokesman, Abu Razak, said the incident took place following an ambush carried out by his men.
He claimed that rebels killed six soldiers and wounded several others, adding that the troops took out their frustration by killing two civilians in the area.
Separately in West Acheh, soldiers also shot dead a suspected rebel in Meunasah Rayeuk area, Muttaqin said.
GAM had called the strike to protest against alleged brutality by police and troops and Jakarta's plan to revive a separate military command for the province.
Public minibuses were returning to the streets and most shops had reopened their shutters in most main towns in the province, including the capital of Banda Acheh and the gas-and-oil town of Lhokseumawe, a local journalist said.
Jakarta last year granted Acheh greater self-rule and a larger share of oil and gas revenues. It also allowed the province to implement Islamic law but ruled out independence.
But President Megawati Sukarnoputri, a daughter of the country's founding president Sukarno, has vowed it will never win independence.
More than 1,700 people died in 2001 and 112 have already been killed this year in Acheh.
© 2002 Agence France-Presse. All rights reserved. |
