Rebels Accuse Military After Islamic Educator Is Killed
The head of an Islamic university in restive Aceh province was shot to death Saturday, police said.
Two unidentified men shot Safwan Idris, 51, in the neck at his home on the campus of the State Institute of Islamic Studies on the outskirts of the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, said Supt. Sayed Husaini. Safwan died at a hospital.
The slaying brings to at least 120 the number of people killed in Aceh since a June 2 truce between separatist guerrillas and Indonesian troops.
Ayah Muni, a commander of the rebel Free Aceh Movement, accused the military of murdering Safwan, who he said was a respected Muslim scholar and a defender of the rights of the Acehnese people.
Since 1975, the Free Aceh Movement has been fighting for independence from Indonesia, leaving at least 5,000 people dead in the past decade. Although Indonesia is mostly Muslim, the rebels want to introduce Islamic law and reestablish the feudal Sultanate of Aceh.
Rebels and human rights activists have blamed the escalating clashes on Indonesian army commanders worried that the current peace process could harm their lucrative business interests in Aceh.
Aceh, an oil- and gas-rich region, lies on the northern tip of Sumatra, about 1,100 miles northwest of Jakarta.
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