A group of relief workers in Aceh sent by the Indonesian Mujahedeen Council (MMI) were expelled by the government troops Sunday evening for an undisclosed reason, according to news reports Monday.

The troops sent back eight MMI members to Jakarta and 11 others to the North Sumatra capital of Medan, reported Detikcom online news service.

"When we asked if we did anything wrong, they (government troops) only said that we must leave," MMI spokesman Fauzan Al-Anshari was quoted as saying.

He said MMI members were given only 30 minutes to pack and leave Aceh, which was ravaged by tsunami on Dec. 26 that killed atleast 100,000 people.

MMI was founded in 2000 with the main goal to impose Islamic law in the country. Its leader, Abu Bakar Ba'asyir, is being tried on charge of terrorism. Ba'asyir is accused by several governments of leading regional terror group Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) which is widely blamed for bomb attacks on Bali nightclubs, Marriott Hotel and the Australian embassy in Jakarta.

Fauzan said he suspected "foreign intervention" behind the expulsion.

Since Dec. 30, MMI has sent more than 200 members for relief work in Aceh, where an international relief operation is being conducted with the presence of US, Australian and Singaporean troops.

(Xinhua News Agency January 10, 2005)