7 Soldiers Slain in Attack by Villagers

A mob of Indonesian villagers forced off-duty soldiers off a bus and killed seven of them with machetes while rioters attacked police nearby, officials said. The violence in northwestern Aceh province on Sumatra island was likely to raise tensions in an area where the military is trying to extricate itself from a decade-long campaign against rebel separatists. Officials suspect that guerrilla followers were behind the soldiers’ slayings. Meanwhile, the military said it will beef up security nationwide in January for holidays at the end of the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.