Indonesian forces kill girl and father

Despite the president's assurances, civilians are still dying in the Aceh conflict

In this story: President's assurances More deaths RELATED STORIES, SITES

By staff and wire reports

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- Indonesian forces have killed a five-year-old girl and her father during a sweep for Aceh separatist rebels, witnesses and officials said.

The victims were shot at an elementary school in Ulee Ateung village in eastern Aceh on Tuesday afternoon.

"They fired blindly," said a witness who asked not to be named for fear of reprisal.

No one else was hurt in the shooting.

Indonesian officers confirmed the deaths, but said the paramilitary policemen were trying to engage guerrillas of the Free Aceh Movement.

"The victims were killed by stray bullets as police were targeting rebels," East Aceh Police Chief Abdullah Hayati said.

President's assurances

The deaths in Ulee Ateung came despite assurances by President Abdurrahman Wahid that security forces would refrain from causing civilian casualties in their current crackdown against the insurgents.

Last week Wahid signed a decree ordering a crackdown on the Aceh separatist movement, which some oberserves see as a formal approval to the ongoing military operation in the province.

To allay concerns, he promised the crackdown would focus on members of the Free Aceh Movement and avoid civilian casualties.

Indonesia's troops earned a lasting reputation for brutality during a 10-year period in the 1990s when military rule was introduced in Aceh in an unsuccessful bid to crush the rebellion.

More deaths

Officials said five other people, including a policeman hacked to death by villagers, were killed on Tuesday.

A rebel commander, Tengku Darwis Djeunieb, said none of the victims were members of the Free Aceh Movement.

More than 6,000 people have died in the fighting since 1990.

Since the beginning of the year, the war has claimed about 100 lives each month.

The intensifying combat also forced U.S. energy giant ExxonMobil Oil to suspend natural gas production in Aceh, a province of 4 million people located on the northern tip of Sumatra island.

Aceh production accounts for a third of Indonesia's liquefied gas exports.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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