Asia-Pacific News
Governor of Indonesia's Aceh urges migrant protection after attacks
Jan 6, 2012, 4:16 GMT
Banda Aceh, Indonesia - The governor of Indonesia's Aceh province on Friday urged police to protect migrant workers after the deaths of six people in armed attacks since December.
In the latest attack Thursday, a person carrying a rifle on a motorcycle fired at construction workers staying in their temporary camp in Aceh Besar district, critically wounding three people, police said.
Most of those killed and wounded have been labourers from Java island, friends and employers of the victims said.
'Police should have information on where workers from outside Aceh stay so they can protect them,' Aceh governor Iwandi Yusuf said.
Eighteen migrant workers have had to take refuge at a local police station, the province's police spokesman Gustav Leo said.
Police had identified the perpetrators of the attacks, Leo said, but 'we still don't know the motive.'
Aceh, located on the northern tip of Sumatra island, was the scene of a bloody separatist conflict for decades before the government signed a peace pact with the rebels in 2005.
The semi-autonomous province has been generally peaceful since the signing of the pact, but sporadic violence has occurred in recent years.
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