The exiled leader of an Aceh independence faction
gunned down in Kuala Lumpur was killed by the Indonesian military, the main
separatist movement in Aceh claimed on Friday.

"I'm sure he was murdered by TNI (Indonesian military) intelligence agents in
Kuala Lumpur," Ismail Sahputra, spokesman for the Free Aceh Movement (GAM),
told AFP by phone.

Zulfahri, aged 40, was shot twice as he ate lunch in a Kuala Lumpur
restaurant on Thursday, his wife Putri Mei Abdullah and police told AFP.

Zulfahri was secretary general of the moderate splinter faction of GAM and
had lived in Malaysia for years.

He was shot dead hours before a truce between the rebels in Aceh and the
Jakarta government came into force at midnight Thursday.

Sahputra said Indonesian military agents had tried several times to kill GAM
members in Malaysia.

"One of the GAM members in Malaysia, Burhan, was tortured by TNI in Johor
Baru and he later died in Pekanbaru," in Indonesian Riau province on Sumatra
island, the spokesman said.

Sahputra said he and other GAM members were "deeply saddened" by the death of
"one of the big leaders of Aceh."

"His death is a great loss to the nation of Aceh," Sahputra said.

"Although we have had differences in opinion, it doesn't mean he deserved to
be killed," he added.

He said the differences were "trivial" and could be solved without either
party having to resort to violence.

Sahputra said Zulfahri had opposed armed struggle to achieve independence for
Aceh, a resource-rich province on the northern tip of Sumatra.

"But we (the main GAM faction headed by exiled leader Hasan Tiro) are of the
opinion that without military power our diplomatic efforts won't succeed," he
said.

Sahputra called on the authorties in Malaysia to thoroughly investigate the
murder "so that the truth can be established".

Malaysian police have launched a hunt for the killer.

The rebel spokesman said that despite the killing of Zulfahri, GAM remained
committed to a landmark truce signed in Switzerland on May 12, which came
into force on Friday.

The truce, dubbed a "humanitarian pause", will be in effect for three months.

"In this situation Aceh is in dire need of at least some peace.

"GAM will not do anything that will violate the memorandum of understanding
and we urge the people to understand this," he said.

The violence has claimed more than 400 lives this year alone, at least 32 of
them since the signing.

Separatism in oil and gas-rich Aceh has been fuelled by Jakarta's failure to
ensure the province benefits from its resources and by years of military
repression aimed at wiping out rebellion. (AFP)