Jakarta – Indonesia's chief security minister, on a fact-finding mission to Aceh province, said the government wanted to end a separatist war there peacefully but at the same time he issued a tough warning to the rebels.

Jakarta – A baby was shot and killed and its mother left fighting for her life in violence which claimed at least 10 lives in the war-ravaged Indonesian province of Aceh on Sunday and Monday, sources said.

The dead also include a soldier, two alleged Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatists and a 79-year-old man and his son.

Tom McCawley, Jakarta – Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, Indonesia's chief security minister, arrived in the troubled Aceh province on Tuesday as Jakarta considered declaring a civil emergency to end a 26-year war with separatists.

Jakarta – The National Commission on Human Rights has launched an investigation into last year's massacre of 31 residents in Langsa, Aceh, Antara reported on Saturday.

B.N. Marbun, a member of the commission, said the team arrived in Langsa on Thursday and will return to Jakarta on Monday.

Jakarta – As the government continued to secure more support for its plan to intensify military operations in Aceh, experts warned that an increased military presence in Aceh would not solve problems but would only create state-sanctioned violence against innocent civilians there.

Banda Aceh – At least two civilians and two suspected guerillas were killed in the latest violence to hit Aceh, residents and the military said yesterday.

But in Jakarta, the authorities and parliament have not yet reached the conclusion that a state of emergency is needed in Aceh.

Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – The hard line taken by the government will dash any hope for a peaceful solution to end the decades-long strife in Aceh, official and activists alike said.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Nationalist politicians back a proposed civil emergency and a likely tougher military action in conflict-ridden Aceh, but legislators from the province oppose such an approach as a means to wipe out separatist rebels.

Aceh separatist rebels slammed a statement by an Indonesian minister branding them terrorists as an "irresponsible and desperate" attempt to discredit the movement.

Banda Aceh – Apparently niggled by the continuing violence in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam province, the government sent a strong signal on Thursday that the military operation in the restive province could be intensified.

Separatist rebels in Indonesia's Aceh province have released 18 civilians they abducted late last month, a source involved in arranging the release said.

"They were released yesterday afternoon," the source, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told AFP Friday, adding they are in good condition.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – A bloody battle between security forces and rebels in Aceh looks imminent as the Indonesian government yesterday announced plans to declare a state of emergency to crack down on "terrorists" in the strife-torn province.

Muklis Ali, Jakarta – Indonesia's government on Thursday branded the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) a terrorist group for the first time, and hinted it may impose a civil emergency in the province of Aceh as violence there was getting out of hand.

Jakarta – Five armed people, allegedly members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), were killed when security officers launched an attack in Bayeuen district, East Aceh, some 460 kilometers away from Banda Aceh, a report said on Wednesday.

Richard Norton-Taylor and John Aglionby, Jakarta – The Foreign Office was urgently investigating reports last night that British Hawk jets had been deployed by the Indonesian airforce in Aceh, against dissidents on a group of islands north-west of Sumatra who are engaged in a brutal struggle for self-rule.

Jakarta – President Megawati Soekarnoputri on Wednesday instructed Iskandar Muda military Commander Maj. Gen. Djali Yusuf to sternly punish the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM). She also blamed GAM for disturbing the public order.

Jakarta – The government will evaluate the viability of the current security policy in Aceh before issuing a presidential decree to change the current status of civilian order in the troubled province, a top official said on Monday.

Indonesia's military said it was mobilising all available troops in a hunt for Aceh separatist rebels blamed for the abduction of nine crewmen servicing the offshore oil industry.

The army also Tuesday accused the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) of demolishing two electricity pylons in the province, causing blackouts in several areas.

Nani Farida, Banda Aceh – Activists on Thursday cast doubts over the upcoming Aceh peace talks, as violence continued unabated with neither the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) nor the government willing to back down from preconditions to move into a dialog.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Some 1,000 Acehnese refugees staged a protest in front of the North Smatra provincial legislature on Thursday, asking the government to keep its promise to provide them with financial assistance.

Jakarta – In a further move to implement syariah, or Islamic law, in Aceh, Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam Police will soon recruit officers for its special religious police unit, YAntara news agency reported.

Jakarta – After participating in the Aceh provincial sports week in Sigli, nine athletes and officials from the Aceh Singkil regency were reportedly abducted by a group of unidentified armed men in Peureulak, East Aceh regency, Antara reported on Thursday.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – The Indonesian Armed Forces (TNI) has received crucial backing from legislators to use force against separatists in Aceh as a military offensive grew imminent in the troubled province.

Zacharias Wuragil, Jakarta – Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto has claimed that the security situation in Aceh has improved. However, he still considers the Free Aceh Movement Force (AGAM) as the most important party that determines security in Aceh.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – Members of the House of Representatives (DPR) unanimously threw their support behind the Indonesian military on Monday in allowing it to flex its muscles against secessionist movements in the country, particularly the Free Aceh Movement (GAM).

Nani Farida, Banda Aceh – Acehnese human rights activists questioned on Monday the effectiveness of Presidential Instruction No. 1/2002 on the Comprehensive Solution to Aceh's Problems to settle the conflict in the province as its six-month deadline nears, while violence remains unabated.

Nani Farida, Banda Aceh – The reestablishment of the Iskandar Muda military command in Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam province has failed to bring about peace in the restive region.

Aceh human rights campaigner Maimul Fidar said the existence of the military command had instead limited the space for civilian activities in the province.

Jakarta – Ten armed men shot dead five employees of a state-owned plantation in Aceh and kidnapped eight others on Saturday, the military said on Sunday.

All of the victims were employees of state-owned plantation PT Perkebunan Nusantara I in Langsa district, East Aceh.

Ibnu Matnoor and Nani Farida, Banda Aceh – Six members of the Indonesian Air Force's special forces (Paskhas) were killed in an ambush by members of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) near Iskandar Muda Airport in Blangbintang, Aceh Besar regency, on Wednesday night, an officer said on Thursday.

A soldier, four suspected separatist rebels and a village chief have been killed in the latest violence in Indonesia's Aceh province, the military and police said.

An army sergeant and a rebel were killed in a gunfight at Hagu Bara Laut near Lhokseumawe in North Aceh on Wednesday, said Aceh military spokesman Major Zaenal Muttaqin.

After the pain of losing East Timor, Indonesia is determined it will never lose Aceh, the resource rich western- most province in the archipelago.

Banda Aceh – At least six people, including two alleged members of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM), were killed in separate incidents in the restive province of Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam over the weekend, reports said.

Despite peace negotiations held in Geneva last month, the Indonesian armed forces (TNI) is continuing its offensive against the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in the north of Sumatra. The current operations are part of a brutal civil war that has raged for 26 years and cost the lives of at least 12,000 people.

Bukit Meranti – In Aceh, the northernmost, natural gas-rich province of Indonesia, the guerrilla war by separatist guerrillas of the Free Aceh Movement has ebbed and flowed since 1976.

In its current phase, the Acehnese are on the defensive, pushed back from the urban centres now thick with patrolling soldiers and police.

Jane Perlezm Bukit Meranti – On a Friday, just before noon prayers in the simple wooden mosque, soldiers stormed into the village of Bukit Meranti, herded the people together and, according to two residents, marched them towards a neighbouring hamlet, torching houses as they went.

Banda Aceh – Security uncertainty in the NanggroeAceh Darussalam province has taken its victim again with anotherprovincial councillor of the United Development Party (PPP), Nasri Zamzam, 43, was shot to death on Thursday evening, a report said on Friday.

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – Police in Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara, have detained five Acehnese people, allegedly members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), for having falsified identity cards and passports.

Five more people, including two separatist rebels, have been killed in Indonesia's troubled Aceh province, the military and residents said.

Soldiers shot dead a suspected member of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in a gunfight at Indrajaya in Pidie district on Friday, said local military chief Colonel Supartodi.

Banda Aceh – Two Indonesian Military (TNI) personnel, two alleged members of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and three civilians died in armed conflict here on Wednesday and Thursday, a military officer said on Thursday.

Kupang – Police officers in East Nusa Tenggara province have arrested 20 of 25 alleged Free Aceh Movement (GAM) members trying to sneak into East Timor, Belu regent Marsel Bere said on Monday.

Two gunmen shot dead a district parliamentarian at his home in Indonesia's restive province of Aceh, police said.

Taslim Jalil was shot dead in Lhoknga near the provincial capital of Banda Aceh a few hours before dawn on Tuesday, Adjunct Senior Police Commissioner D. Achmad told journalists.

Yemris Fointuna, Kupang – Local military intelligence has confirmed the presence of 25 members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist group in Atambua near the border with East Timor, an officer claimed on Saturday.

Jakarta – Security forces shot and killed five separatist rebels, while one solider died as clashes persisted in Indonesia's restive Aceh province, the military said Sunday.

Rebels ambushed a security patrol in the Bireun district in northern Aceh, killing one soldier, local military spokesman Maj. Zaenal Mutaquin said.

Banda Aceh – Fierce armed clashes broke out in five different locations in Aceh on Tuesday, killing a Mobile Brigade (Brimob) policeman and a rebel of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM),an official said on Wednesday.

Meanwhile, at least two civilians, one of them the wife of alocal politician in Aceh, were found dead with gunshot wounds.

Banda Aceh – As killings continue in restive Aceh province, tens of thousands of people in three subdistricts of Pidie regency are facing food shortages following a road block by separatist rebels.

At least four more people – including a suspected separatist rebel – have been killed in Indonesia's Aceh province, according to the military and residents.

Banda Aceh – Tension in war-ridden Aceh, especially East Aceh regency, was rising following the release by the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) of female students allegedly abducted early this month.

At least seven people, including a woman and three separatist guerrillas were killed in the past four days in Indonesia's Aceh province.

The chief of a village in West Aceh was shot dead by a gunman Saturday, Aceh military spokesman Major Zaenal Muttaqin told AFP.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Aceh Governor Abdullah Puteh met House of Representatives Speaker Akbar Tandjung and People's Consultative Assembly Speaker Amien Rais on Wednesday to lodge a complaint against what he called the unfair allocation of state revenue from the exploration of natural resources in the oil-rich province.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Police in Labuhan Batu, North Sumatra, arrested on Tuesday five Acehnese people who were trying to smuggle a huge cache of M-16 automatic rifle ammunition and 103 boxes of medicine from Jakarta to strife-torn Aceh.