Muslim cleric abducted, killed

BANDA ACEH, Aceh: A Muslim cleric in the remote Aceh village of Beurabo was abducted and killed by a group of gunmen, a local police officer said on Wednesday.

Pidie Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Mariyanto said Tengku Mahyiddin Ibrahim, who headed an Islamic boarding school in his village, 100 kilometers east of the provincial capital, was killed at about 8 p.m. local time on Tuesday.

The motive of the murder remains unknown, Mariyanto said, adding that he believed the killers were part of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist rebels, whose leaders are under siege by the Indonesian Military in Nisam, North Aceh.

The body of Mahyiddin was found 1.5 kilometers from his residence with gunshot wounds to his chest.

It was the first murder of a civilian since GAM declared a unilateral cease-fire to respect the Muslim fasting month of Ramadhan.

Separately, local Red Cross workers found the body of a man, who was later identified as Wahyudi Harun, 25, a resident of Bireuen regency, some 170 kilometers east of Banda Aceh. Wahyudi had several gunshot wounds to his head. -- JP