World Bank consultant kidnapped in Indonesia's Aceh

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (Reuters) - A French consultant for the World Bank in Indonesia's Aceh province was kidnapped by a group of former rebels but later released unharmed, the Aceh police chief said on Thursday.

Adrian Morel, a consultant covering Aceh's economy and conflict, was abducted in north Aceh on Tuesday by a group of seven men, believed to be former members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), Aceh police chief Rismawan said.

The rebels asked for a ransom of 5 billion rupiah ($533,300), and took Morel's car and cash, amounting to about $3,300, the police said.

A World Bank spokesman in Jakarta declined to comment on the incident, but confirmed Morel was a consultant and said it would release a statement later.

Resource-rich Aceh, on the northernmost tip of Sumatra island was ravaged by fighting between the separatist Free Aceh Movement and Indonesia's armed forces, in which an estimated 15,000 people died.

Following the December 2004 tsunami, the Indonesian government and Free Aceh Movement signed a ground-breaking peace pact in 2005, giving the province limited self-rule.

This week's abduction is not the first such incident.

Gunmen abducted seven Chinese and one Indonesian who were working with a local mining firm in a forest in the Gayo Lues area in April and demanded a ransom of more than $30,000.