Separatists Kill Indonesian Officer In Aceh Ambush
BANDA ACEH, Indonesia, Jan 28 (News Agencies) - Separatists in the troubled Indonesian province of Aceh shot dead an army officer in an ambush, a report said Sunday.
An officer known only as Second Lieutenant Erwin, 27, was shot as he traveled in an army truck carrying members of the elite Strategic Command Kostrad, in Idi Rayeuk, East Aceh, on Saturday, the Serambi daily said.
Quoting sources at the Aceh military headquarters, the Banda Aceh-based daily said the truck was on the way to the North Aceh district town of Lhokseumawe from Medan, the capital of the neighboring province of North Sumatra, when it was shot at in front of a livestock market in Idi Rayeuk.
Erwin was the 100th victim to fall this year in the armed conflict pitting government forces against those of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM), which has been fighting for a free Islamic state in the resource-rich province since the mid-1970s, the daily said.
The bloodshed took place despite a one-month moratorium on violence in Aceh, agreed between representatives of the government and the GAM in Switzerland on January 15th.
More than 1,000 people died in Aceh last year in violence related to clashes between GAM and government troops.
Pressure for a vote on self-rule has intensified since East Timor's breakaway from Indonesia last year after a U.N.-conducted ballot on self-determination.
Jakarta has ruled out independence for Aceh, but pledged broad autonomy.
