Muslim cleric abducted, killed

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