Fresh fighting has killed at least eight people in Indonesia's restive Aceh province.
Local police chief Said Huseini say officers shot three separatist rebels to death yesterday on the outskirts of the provincial capital of Banda Aceh.
A civilian was killed by crossfire in a separate gunfight nearby, police said.
Human rights workers said the bodies of four villagers were found on Saturday in southern Aceh, about 1,100 miles north-west of Jakarta. The victims appeared to have been killed by gunshots, they said.
Insurgents from the Free Aceh Movement have been battling for an independent homeland in the oil- and gas-rich region for 25 years. The war and reprisals by the military have claimed at least 6,000 lives in the past decade, most of them civilians.
Indonesia's government said yesterday it has deployed 1,500 soldiers of troops to Aceh to protect Exxon Mobil Corp's natural gas fields after the company suspended operations last week because of rebel attacks.
Indonesia is fighting separatist movements and trying to quell religious and ethnic violence in several provinces. The unrest has led to political turmoil and calls for the resignation of President Abdurrahman Wahid.
PA