Indonesia said on Friday 58 separatist rebels in Aceh province have been killed and 23,000 civilians have fled their homes since the military began its biggest offensive in years. Aceh deputy governor Aswar Abubakar said that since Monday when the campaign began thousands of civilians had fled their homes in Indonesia's westernmost province. "There have been 23,000 refugees. Some of them are in North Aceh, Bireun, West Aceh and a few in other places. They won't be evacuated to Banda Aceh," Mr Abubakar said. Aceh's military commander visited an island off the north Aceh coast on Friday to deliver humanitarian aid to an isolated community that has seen several clashes in recent days with entrenched Free Aceh Movement (GAM) forces. The military has pounded the island, a half-hour by boat from the provincial capital Banda Aceh, with rocket fire from helicopters and machine-gun and cannon fire from patrol boats. "We are trying to eliminate the rebels from the air, land and sea. We are trying to prevent them from escaping," Major General Endang Suwarya said.
| Apparently they were watching Afghanistan and Iraq, and they're trying to do the "shock and awe" thing. I have many doubts they give a poop about about whether any civilians are in the area, though. |
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