Rebel leader on 'secret' mission in KL

Rebel leader on 'secret' mission in KL

Agencies, Jakarta

A senior Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebel leader who is also the
group's spokesman said on Saturday he had escaped the Indonesian
military's security cordon and was now in Malaysia on a "secret"
mission.

"I didn't flee," Sofyan Daud told AFP in Jakarta by satellite
telephone.

Daud is the rebels' chief spokesman and also commander of
GAM's Pase district near the city of Lhokseumawe, where there has
been intense military activity since government forces launched a
major offensive on May 19 to wipe out the rebels.

"I am in Malaysia," Daud said.

He said he left Aceh more than two weeks ago and flew to
Malaysia from Jakarta using a different name.

Daud said he was now in the Kuala Lumpur area on a "secret"
mission and would definitely return to Aceh.

In a conversation with AFP earlier on Saturday, he denied
military allegations that the rebels were increasingly hemmed in
by the military operation.

The Kompas newspaper's website, quoting sources at Indonesian
National Police Headquarters, said Daud "fled" Indonesia on
Thursday, likely using a speedboat.

Police Brig. Gen. Aryanto Sutadi told AFP he had no
information about Daud's whereabouts but added that Indonesian
police had already asked Interpol to arrest "all GAM rebels,
including their top leaders."

"If he is indeed hiding in Malaysia, then we will ask for him
to be handed over to us because he and his colleagues are guilty
of terrorism and treason in Indonesia," Sutadi said.

Col. Ditya Soedarsono, a military spokesman, said it was
"quite possible" Daud had fled to Malaysia "but then again he
could be lying by claiming that he was there while in fact he may
still be hiding from us in Aceh."

Meanwhile, a military source told The Jakarta Post that
security officers raided a house in Medan, the capital of North
Sumatra, where a group of GAM members was believed to be hiding.
The group managed to flee.

"Sofyan Daud must have been one of them," said the source, who
asked to remain anonymous.

Close to 40,000 soldiers and police are battling a GAM force
the military estimated at about 5,000 when the operation began.

The military said on Saturday that 531 rebels had been killed
and 1,277 had been captured or had surrendered during the
operation.

A senior police detective, Col. Andi Chaeruddin, told AP on
Saturday that police had arrested six Acehnese rebels for alleged
links to bombings earlier this year at the House of
Representatives, at the Soekarno-Hatta airport and in front of
the United Nations building in Jakarta,

Aceh Besar police arrested four GAM members, including a
female fighter, or inoeng balee.

Aceh Besar Police chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Heru Budi Ersanto said
in Banda Aceh on Saturday that two of the GAM members turned
themselves in while two others were arrested t their hiding place
in Siron village. The four are Nurhayati, 30, Fajeri, 19,
Safrizal, 20, and Adeli, 17.

Three intelligence officers were seriously injured in an
attack by a group of rebels in Beureunot village, Seulimum, Aceh
Besar

First Lt. Doni Pedro, one of the intelligence officers, said
his group was assaulted when they were patrolling the village to
look into villagers' reports that rebels were collecting taxes
from them.

"We were attacked in the village," he said.

Meanwhile, Minister of Home Affairs Hari Sabarno made a short
inspection of Monstasik subdistrict, which was a strong GAM base
in Aceh Besar regency, to check on public administration in the
area.

He appreciated the more favorable situation in Aceh after two
months of the integrated operation. He said he would report on
the progress to President Megawati Soekarnoputri following his
return to Jakarta.

"There has been significant progress made since the public
administration start to function effectively again, and this
means we can now start developing the province to improve the
people's welfare," he said after handing over 53 typewriters to
53 villages in the subdistrict.