Armed rebels kidnap and shoot councillor
BANDA ACEH, Aceh (JP): Two armed separatist rebels abducted a North Aceh councillor on Sunday evening and left him in critical condition with seven gunshot wounds in Tanah Luas district, Lhokseumawe, North Aceh, an officer said on Monday.
"He is in a critical condition and admitted at the military hospital in Lhokseumawe," North Aceh Police precinct chief Supt. Abadan Bangko said.
The officer added that the police have already identified the two alleged assailants and are now conducting a search mission to track them down.
Abadan said the two armed rebels abducted the Golkar Party councillor from his residence in Meucat village, Syamtalira Aron district and forcefully took him to Nibong village in the Tanah Luas district.
"The victim was taken to an airport belonging to oil firm Exxon Mobil in Nibong village where the armed rebels shot him seven times, four to his chest, two to his head and one in his leg, and then left him dying near the airport runway," he said.
Abadan added that local residents later found him and rushed him to the hospital using the company vehicle.
A similar shooting incident against a local councillor occurred on Sept. 13 when two armed rebels shot dead United Development Party (PPP) faction chairman Teungku Ilyas Ibrahim at his house in Meuria Arun village, Syamtalira Arun district.
There has been no significant progress in the police investigation in the case so far.
In a related development, Aceh Police Headquarters said the police had established P.O. Box 1000 to gather information from people to help unveil the murder of the rector of the Ar-Raniry State Institute of Islamic Studies (IAIN) Safwan Idris.
"We might be able to gather important clues from residents and students to resolve the case," spokesman to Aceh Police Sr. Insp. A.M. Kamal said as quoted by Antara on Monday.
Two armed rebels shot dead Safwan at his house in the institute's Darussalam Campus in Banda Aceh on Sept. 16.
The police had questioned 11 people as witnesses. They claimed to have seen the alleged assailants.
Aceh Police chief Brig. Gen. Doddy Sumantyawan said the police would soon distribute sketches of the two alleged assailants to the public to help the police find them.
Meanwhile, Pidie Police precinct chief Supt. Heru Budi Ersanto said on Monday the killing of a Javanese resident from Kupula village, Padangtiji subdistrict on Saturday was designed to trigger inter-ethnic clashes.
Heru said the slaying was carried out by a group of armed masked men who launched the attack by burning down the victim's house before cutting his throat.
Separately, in East Aceh regency, 10 houses were burned down by nine masked armed rebels on Sunday at the predominantly Javanese and Sundanese Kampung Bandung village in Karang Baru district.
Aceh Timur Police precinct chief Supt. Abdullah Hayati suspected the attack was aimed to incite clashes between indigenous locals and migrants. (50/lup)