AID workers in Aceh, the tsunami-ravaged province of Indonesia, fear that the separatist conflict in the region may have caught up with the international relief effort after a Red Cross volunteer was shot through the neck.
Security forces blamed rebels after two shots were fired at a vehicle, seriously wounding Eva Yeung, 28, from Hong Kong, but a spokesman for the Free Aceh Movement denied responsibility. Ms Yeung was evacuated to Singapore, where she was in a stable condition.
The attack, which took place outside the town of Lamno on Wednesday night, was the first of its kind against the hundreds of foreign aid workers who have poured into Aceh since the tsunami killed about 130,000 people last December, sparking one of the biggest relief efforts in history.
The United Nations immediately banned its staff from using roads in the province after dark, and the dozens of foreign aid groups based in Banda Aceh, the main city, held security reviews. Many have feared that a tenuous peace would not hold for ever.
The headquarters of some aid organisations are surrounded by blast barriers to guard against car bombs, although aid workers are relaxed as they walk in the city.
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The Free Aceh Movement has begun tentative peace talks with the Government after decades of fighting, sparking hopes that the aftermath of the tsunami may bring an end to one of the longest-running insurgencies in Asia, which began in 1976.