Three including 18-month-old toddler shot dead in Indonesia’s Aceh ahead of elections

Gunmen riding a motorcycle have shot dead three people including a toddler in Indonesia’s Aceh, police said on Tuesday, the latest violence in the western province before legislative elections next week.

The victims were killed late on Monday when two men on a motorcycle opened fire on a small van decorated with pictures of election candidates from the Aceh Party, which dominates local politics.

Police said it was not clear who the gunmen were although there has been an upsurge in politically-linked attacks ahead of the April 9 polls.

The violence highlighted that security remains fragile in Aceh, on the northernmost tip of Sumatra island, almost a decade after a peace deal ended a 30-year separatist insurgency in the province that left some 25,000 people dead.

“The gunmen were believed to have been following the minivan - which was carrying 12 people, including two toddlers - and fired shots from behind, hitting four people,” said Ali Khadafi, police chief of Bireuen district, where the attack took place.

The driver rushed the passengers to a local health centre, but the 18-month-old boy, a man and a woman were dead on arrival, Khadafi said.

A 35-year-old man remains in critical condition, he added.