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wo Army personnel from the North Aceh Military Command (Kodim) Aceh were found dead after they were reportedly abducted by an armed group, identified as the Din Minimi gang, in Alue Mbang village, Nisam Antara subdistrict, North Aceh.

The two military personnel, First Sgt. Indra and Second Sgt. Hendri, were gathering intelligence on the Din Minimi group in Alue Mbang at the time of their abductions.

The two officers were seen for the last time at Alue Mbang on Monday.

The bodies of Hendri and Indra were found about 5 kilometers from the place where they were reportedly snatched on Tuesday morning after a joint search operation involving members of the local police, military and local villagers.

According to Muhammad Daud, the head of Batee Pila hamlet, the two officers went to the village to investigate the armed group. The two left Daud'€™s residence after receiving a phone call.

'€œHowever, they were then stopped by several men and were forced to get in their car,'€ Daud told reporters on Tuesday.

Some villagers in the area claimed they heard a gunshot after the disappearance of the two men.

Members of the local police and military immediately combed the area, and at 9 a.m. Tuesday found the bodies of Hendri and Indra.

Indonesian Army spokesman Brig. Gen. Wuryanto told reporters in Jakarta that when their bodies were found, Hendri and Indra were tied up and positioned close to each other. The two died from gunshot wounds.

'€œDoctors from the Lhokseumawe military hospital are examining the bodies. We found 12 and three shell casings from AK-47s and M-16s, respectively, in the area where we found the bodies,'€ Wuryanto said on Tuesday.

Maj. Gen. Agus Kriswanto, the commander of the Iskandar Muda Military Command in Aceh, acknowledged that he was in the dark over the motive for the abductions and subsequent killings.

Agus claimed that the Din Minimi group was responsible for the abductions and murders.

Din Minimi is the leader of an armed group in Aceh who was also a former combatant of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) before the rebel group and the Indonesian government signed the 2005 Helsinki peace deal.

Din has announced that he and his supporters are against the current Aceh government and that his group will use violence to fight to improve the welfare of former combatants in the region.

Local security authorities in Aceh have accused the Din Minimi group of being responsible for acts of terror in the area, saying its actions are aimed at creating instability in the province.

'€œIt is time for the military to chase the perpetrators to settle this matter,'€ Agus said, adding that the Army must be involved in an operation to crush the group now that its personnel had been targeted.

Agus said, however, that for the time being he would allow the police to investigate the abductions and murders.

Army spokesman Wuryanto said he did not want to speculate on what caused the armed group to launch the attack.

'€œWe are trying to discover the background; whether it was revenge on the military or something else,'€ he said.