The Canberra Times, 28 June 2003: "Aceh Toll Figures Not Reliable"

Thank you for continuing your reports on Aceh. However, I would like to question your article headed "176 killed in Aceh: report" (CT, June 22).

The report of the Commission on Missing Persons and Victims of Violence to which you refer was not based on reliable sources nor were the details ever confirmed with the relevant authorities in Aceh. To use media reports as a principal source of information is a hazardous exercise. Not only is double counting unavoidable but it raises the issue of whether the casualties have been correctly attributed, e.g. in those instances where separatist rebels are embedded in with civilians.

According to the Aceh Police Chief, 106 civilians have died so far, of which GAM rebels are known to have killed 16 schoolteachers, 26 village heads, six civil servants and some retired military personnel and members of their families, and these do not include civilians who were killed by GAM for refusing to support their movement or for having assisted the military or police.

In guerilla war, collateral damage is unavoidable, but we are determined to limit it as much as we can.