The death toll in the massacre of civilians by troops in Indonesia's troubled Aceh province rose to 57 with the uncovering of mass graves, as President B.J. Habibie formed a special team to investigate the mounting violence.
Residents in the Beutong Ateuh valley in West Aceh have dug up or found a total of 57 bodies of civilians they said were killed by Indonesian troops on July 23rd for allegedly possessing illegal arms, witnesses said.
The bodies were found in five places, two of them mass graves, from Monday to Thursday by the residents in the Beutong Ateuh valley in West Aceh, the witnesses said.
Five other unidentified bodies but believed to have been five men missing from the same incident, were discovered on Sunday under a bridge in a neighbouring district, a local reporter said.
Witnesses at the site said those injured in the shooting were supposed to have been taken away in military trucks to hospitals "but were instead dumped to die" on the roadside.
The local commander, Col Syarifuddin Tippe, has said the military launched an operation in the Beutong Ateuh area to search for illegal weapons.
But human rights activists have quoted villagers as saying soldiers had shot the victims in a field near a local school after telling them to gather there for an identity check.
In the July 23rd raid the troops seized a camera, documents and 4 lb of marijuana, Col Tippe reportedly said, adding they also found 24 acres of hemp plants.
But a local human rights worker, Mr Yacob Hamzah, said the hemp plantation did not belong to Bantaqiah, a local leader and former political prisoner who was among those killed, or his followers.
The massacre was the latest bout of violence to hit Aceh where a rebel movement has stepped up its activities against soldiers this year.
The violence has claimed more than 200 victims, civilians and soldiers and prompted more than 100,000 people to flee their villages since May.
The Aceh Merdeka has been fighting for an independent Islamic state since the mid-1970s.
In Jakarta, the State Secretary and Justice Minister, Mr Muladi, said President Habibie has issued a decree setting up an independent team to investigate the violence.
"Considering the scores of violent incidents in the special Aceh province that have claimed a significant number of lives and material damage. . . it is considered necessary to form an Independent Commission on the Violence in Aceh," the decree said.
Mr Habibie selected the commission's initial 27 members, drawn from representatives of the National Commission on Human Rights, non-governmental organisations, educational and professional institutions and the government. The list also included prominent figures from Aceh.
The team will be required to travel to Aceh, on the northern tip of Sumatra island, for investigations on violence there.
Most of the violence has been concentrated in Pidie, North Aceh and East Aceh, which bore the brunt of harsh decade-long anti-rebel military operations that were halted only last year.