понедельник, 12 марта 2012 г.

Ex-rebel killed in Indonesia's Aceh province

Motorcycle gunmen fatally shot a rebel-turned-politician in Indonesia's Aceh province, officials said Sunday, raising fresh fears of violence during parliamentary elections this week.

Muhamad Jamil, the local head of the Aceh Party in the eastern town of Langsa, was shot twice in the chest late Saturday, local police chief Lt. Col. Marwan Syakur said.

The motive of the attack _ the latest in a string targeting former insurgents _ remained unclear.

Aceh, at the extreme northwestern end of the vast Indonesian archipelago, has been relatively calm since the government signed a peace deal with rebels in 2005, ending 29 years of fighting that left 15,000 people dead.

But violence has escalated ahead of Thursday's election for a new local legislature.

At least five members of the Aceh Party, which represents the interests of the former rebels, have been killed in recent months and dozens of buildings and cars damaged, but no one has been arrested.

The attacks have increased tensions in the politically divided region.

Though Jamil was not running for a parliamentary seat, he was a key figure in Langsa. Tengku Syamsuddin, a spokesman for the former rebels, called on authorities to quickly identify the perpetrators.

Indonesia's parliamentary elections come three months before a presidential vote.

Most political observers expect the polls to be peaceful, but Aceh is considered a possible flash point. Hatred still runs deep between forces of the Indonesian army, which still has roughly 15,000 troops in the area, and former rebels now governing the territory.

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