UNHCR workers rescued in gun battle

BANDA ACEH, Aceh: The police's Mobile Brigade (Brimob) have rescued three foreign workers of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) taken hostage by the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) at Alue Piet village, West Aceh.

Spokesman for the Aceh Security Restoration Operation Adj. Sr. Comr. Agus Dwiyanto said the three, all Dutch nationals, were identified as Johannes Otto Reinhold, Johanna Petro Nella and Hendrikus Johannes Cornelis.

Agus said the workers had been held hostage by GAM after they were captured making their way from the province's capital of Banda Aceh to Meulaboh, West Aceh, aboard a Kijang minivan on Sunday.

The rebels seized Rp 4 million in cash and a wrist watch from the UNHCR workers, he said on Monday.

Agus said the release was carried out during a gunfight between Brimob troops and rebels. --Antara