Dutch student shot in Aceh<\/p>\n
Nani Afrida and Apriadi Gunawan, The Jakarta Post\/Banda Aceh\/Medan<\/p>\n
Less than two weeks after the shooting of a Hong Kong aid worker,
\na Dutch student was shot while traveling in a car in Aceh, child
\nactivists and police said on Friday.<\/p>\n
Azmiati Zuliati, a staffer at the Center for Child Protection,
\nsaid that 24-year-old Marije Mellegers was shot in Krue Kluet
\nvillage in Tapak Tuan at about 9:30 p.m. on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Mellegers, who was in Aceh for a study on children in the
\ntsunami-wrecked province. was traveling to Meulaboh with seven
\nstaff members of the center, including Azmiati.<\/p>\n
Azmiati said a number of unidentified people sprayed bullets
\nfrom the right side of the Kijang van she and her group were
\ntraveling in around one kilometer from a police post.<\/p>\n
"I heard more than 10 shots. Marije was sitting at the back
\nand she was hit by two bullets in her calf," Azmiati said.<\/p>\n
The student was rushed to Kuta Fajar Hospital in South Aceh,
\nbefore being transferred to the Gleneagles International Hospital
\nin Medan, the capital of the neighboring North Sumatra province.<\/p>\n
A spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of
\nHumanitarian Affairs said on Friday that Mellegers was in a
\nstable condition.<\/p>\n
Aceh Police accused the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) members of
\nperpetrating the shooting.<\/p>\n
"Based on our investigation, Marije only suffered minor
\ninjuries to her arms and thighs from glass shards of the car's
\nwindows. She was shot by GAM," spokesman for the Aceh Police Sr.
\nComr. Joko Turohman Joko told The Jakarta Post. His account of
\nthe incident did not collaborate with Azmiati's statement that
\nshe suffered two gunshot wounds.<\/p>\n
He said Mellegers had reported her presence in the province to
\nthe police.<\/p>\n
Aceh has been open to foreigners following the lifting of a
\none-year civil emergency in mid May.<\/p>\n
South Aceh military chief Lt. Col. Jumhur Ismail also blamed
\nthe separatists for the attack.<\/p>\n
GAM denied responsibility for the incident, saying Mobile
\nBrigade (Brimob) Police personnel were behind the shooting.
\nAnother rebel said Brimob officers who were patrolling the area
\nhad perpetrated the attack.<\/p>\n
A Hong Kong woman working for the Red Cross, Eva Yeung, was
\nshot and wounded while traveling to an aid distribution point in
\nAceh on June 28. Rebels and security authorities blamed each
\nother for the attack.<\/p>\n
Both the government and the rebels group are gearing up for a
\nkey round of peace talks in Helsinki next week to end the three-
\ndecade armed conflict in the natural resource-rich province.<\/p>",
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