Nurdin Hasan & Ismira Lutfia

Aceh Police Hunt Gunmen In Attack on EU Diplomat

Banda Aceh. Police on Tuesday launched a manhunt in Aceh after two gunmen on a motorcycle reportedly fired a shot into the residence of the European Union’s chief representative there on Monday night.

No casualties were reported although the envoy, John Penny, a British national, and his wife were reportedly in their home in Keutapang, Aceh Besar district.

Charles Whiteley, first secretary for the delegation of the European Commission in Jakarta, confirmed the incident was being investigated by local police.

“We do not know the motives yet,” he said, noting that although additional security measures were being looked into for EU officials in Indonesia, no decision had been made yet on the matter.

The incident reportedly occurred at 10:30 p.m. on Monday when Penny and his wife were at the residence, a guard stationed at the house told the Jakarta Globe on condition of anonymity. He speculated that the gun used in the attack had a silencer.

“I did not hear the shot. All of a sudden, the front glass window [of the house] was shattered. They shot once; the two perpetrators then fled on a motorcycle,” the guard said.

Penny declined to comment on the attack when questioned by journalists on Tuesday. He was observed to be busy taking pictures of the two-story house’s front yard and the main gate.

Aceh Police spokesman Farid Ahmad Saleh said that in anticipation of similar attacks, local officers would step up protection for foreigners currently in the province on humanitarian missions. “We are deploying special teams and stepping up our patrols,” he said.

A joint task force from district and provincial police had been deployed to probe the incident, Farid said, but so far nothing was known about the motive or the identity of the assailants.

“Aceh is safe. I do not understand why there are still irresponsible parties wanting to create the image that Aceh is not safe,” he said. “The targets are foreigners who are currently helping us.”

Monday’s shooting came a week after a partnership agreement was signed between the EU and Indonesia on Nov. 9, which brought pledges of 5 million euros ($7.5 million) to support law enforcement, 15 million euros for Indonesian exporters, 200 million euros over three years for education assistance and an unspecified amount for the Corruption Eradication Commission (KPK).

The shooting was the second to target foreigners in Aceh this month. On Nov. 5, two men on a motorcycle shot at a car carrying the head of the German Red Cross, Erhard Bauer, 50. Bauer has since been evacuated to Singapore for medical treatment.

Police are still in the dark as to the motive in the Bauer shooting.

Whiteley said the EU’s $692 million program scheduled to end in 2012 would continue despite the attack.

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