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s the situation in Aceh becomes more volatile ahead of the local election, the National Police are stepping up security measures in the country’s westernmost province.

“We have 8,776 personnel specially trained to secure the election. That figure accounts for two-thirds of our total capacity,” Aceh Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Gustav Leo told The Jakarta Post on Monday.

The Acehnese will be casting their ballots in the poll on April 9.

Gustav said the officers would be deployed to ensure the safety of candidates during campaigning and to secure 9,768 polling stations across the province.

He also said police had divided up Aceh into three zones according to the level of security threats in each.

In areas considered the safest, which include Sabang and Banda Aceh, one police officer, accompanied by four community watch members, will be responsible for two polling stations.

More police officers will be deployed to areas considered less safe for political campaigning.

“Lhokseumawe and Bireuen are two examples of areas with high security threat levels as well as high crime rates. And yet there is a high concentration of polling stations in these areas, with 259 polling stations in Lhokseumawe and 744 in Bireuen,” said Gustav.

He added that the recent arrests of alleged terrorist suspects in Aceh indicated that there was a real security threat ahead of the local election.

In January, police launched a crackdown on weapons; by March 11, they had confiscated 40 firearms.

Aceh Police and members of the elite Densus 88 counterterrorism unit are reported to have shot dead one terror suspect and arrested one other in a raid on Saturday evening in an escalation of violence ahead of next month’s gubernatorial election.

The two, who are suspected of having plotted to disrupt the election through bomb attacks, were caught in a raid at Limpok village, Darussalam, Banda Aceh. The suspect who was killed has been identified as Maimun JF.

Maimun is believed to have been connected to a group of six people in possession of explosives who were arrested in Aceh on March 10.

Gustav confirmed that Maimun was part of a terror network.

“Our investigation along with testimony from the six individuals confirmed his involvement in the network. When we intercepted him in Limpok village on Saturday, he tried to escape by climbing a wall,” Gustav said.

Maimun was hit by police gunfire and he died on the way to hospital. He was buried in Pasi village, Lhong subdistrict, on Sunday.

Gustav said that Maimun and the six other suspects, identified as K, M, R, S, U and US were planning to launch attacks during the election period.

“We are still going after five more suspects related to the group,” Gustav said.

The National Police have yet to confirm if the suspects belong to a established terror network.

Meanwhile, leading gubernatorial candidate Irwandi Yusuf, who is also the incumbent, claimed that he had been the target of an assassination attempt by a terrorist group.

“They [the terrorists] planned to kill me,” he said before his supporters in Kuta Asan, Peusangan Bireuen, on Sunday as reported by tempo.co.

Earlier on March 17, Irwandi’s campaign team vehicle was set on fire by two unidentified assailants in Reungkam village, Pirak Timue subdistrict.

A pair of independent candidates from East Aceh, Muslim Hasballah and Marwi Umar, became victims of a similar plot when their car was burned on March 15 in Beusa Beuramo village, Peureulak subdistrict.

No casualties were reported in the two incidents. (tas)