Police subprecinct chief killed in Aceh

Police subprecinct chief killed in Aceh

SIGLI, Aceh (JP): A police subprecinct chief was shot dead in
Pidie regency here on Sunday by an unidentified man believed to
be a member of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

Pidie Police chief Lt. Col. Endang Emiqail Bagus said the
officer, Second Lt. Muhammad Djamil Yahya, who headed the Mutiara
Police subprecinct, was killed when shopping at a Beureunuen
market.

"The victim was shot with a pistol at short range," Bagus
said.

He said Yahya was riding a bicycle and not wearing his uniform
when the attack took place at 9:15 a.m. in a crowded area of the
market.

Yahya, who reportedly was not carrying his pistol, died
instantly with four bullet wounds to the chest and stomach,
Endang added.

He said police officers from the mobile brigade unit were
quickly deployed to the market but failed to arrest the shooter,
who escaped on a motorcycle.

The body of Yahya, a father of three, was sent to his hometown
of Montasik, Aceh Besar, about 100 kilometers west of Pidie.

Witnesses said dozens of shops and kiosks in the market were
destroyed by fire after the police searched for the killer.

A number of shop owners fled the scene and took refuge at a
nearby mosque. "We are afraid that we will be shot by police
officers," one of them said.

GAM spokesman Abu Razak denied that the killer was a member of
the separatist group. "The report was released only to tarnish
our image," Razak said.

Dozens of police and marine personnel have been killed by
armed civilians in the restive province recently.

Although calls for a cease-fire between the Indonesian
Military and GAM have frequently been urged, the violence
continues.

During an overseas trip to Europe, President Abdurrahman Wahid
said that self-exiled GAM leader Hasan Tiro approved a truce, but
local GAM leaders denied the President's claim.

Separately in Deah Pangwa village, also in Pidie, local
residents found a decomposing body of a man on the seashore on
Sunday morning. Nobody claimed the body and it was buried later
in the day. (50/51/jun)