Banda Aceh – Fifteen killings have been reported over the past two days in Indonesia's rebellious Aceh province, the army and witnesses said Tuesday.

Banda Aceh – At least 12 people have been killed in the latest outbreak of violence in Indonesia's Aceh province on the weekend, police and residents said Sunday.

Jakarta – Almost all witnesses to a massacre of civilians in Indonesia's Aceh province last year said the army was to blame, an international rights group reported Friday.

Tiarma Siboro, Jakarta – The government plans to facilitate new peace talks that will include all parties in Aceh. This comes after a series of dialogs with rebel groups failed to live up to the aspirations of the majority in the province.

Banda Aceh – At least 14 people have been killed over the past two days in Indonesia's rebellious Aceh province, security officials and aid workers said Wednesday.

Banda Aceh – Seven separatist rebels and three soldiers have been killed in Indonesia's troubled Aceh province, the military said Thursday.

Jakarta – The Aceh provincial administration will soon set up religious police to help effectively enforce Islamic syariah law in the rebellious province, a local senior official said on Tuesday.

Banda Aceh – The government is considering holding peace talks inside Indonesia to end the decades-long separatist conflict in Aceh province if dialogue held overseas fails, a top minister said Wednesday.

Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – Muslims in Aceh who do not wear Islamic dress will be barred from urban areas from the middle of this month as the authorities start enforcing the Islamic syariah law.

The Acehnese provincial government yesterday announced they will enforce Islamic dress code as part of syariah law introduced in the province last year.

Banda Aceh – Indonesian troops have shot dead three suspected separatist rebel in the restive province of Aceh, the military said Sunday.

Max Lane – The chairperson of SMUR (Students in Solidarity with the People), Mahmudal, was arrested in Banda Aceh on February 19 during a demonstration organised by ORPAD (Acehnese Women's Democratic Organisation).

Ibnu Mat Noor, Banda Aceh – At least seven people have been killed in the latest spate of violence since Friday in the restive province of Aceh, local authorities said on Monday.

Jakarta – No less than 200 members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) were killed in armed contacts with the Indonesian Military (TNI) troops within the Teuku Umar Military Resort Command jurisdiction in 2001, a military officer claimed on Sunday.

Banda Aceh – Eight more killings were reported Thursday in Indonesia's strife-torn Aceh province as residents said special prayers for peace on the eve of the Muslim Day of Sacrifice.

Ibnu Mat Noor, Banda Aceh – In a rare event in war-torn Aceh, more than 40 traders, all women, held a protest march in Banda Aceh against extortion and the local administration's corruption of government subsidies.

Max Lane – "It was extremely disappointing to see Australian Prime Minister John Howard shake hands so enthusiastically with Indonesia's President Megawati Sukarnoputri. Doesn't he know how her government treats the people, not just in Aceh, but all over Indonesia?", Aceh's outspoken democracy leader Kautsar told Green Left Weekly.

Banda Aceh – Plans by a paramilitary group to hold its first mass rally in Indonesia's Aceh province flopped yesterday, following strong objections from separatist rebels and other Acehnese.

Laskar Jihad chief Jaffar Umar Thalib took over the podium at the main Baiturrahman mosque in the provincial capital Banda Aceh following late afternoon prayers, witnesses said.

Australian researcher Lesley McCulloch meets three teenagers who have become unwitting players in the long running secessionist war in the Indonesian province of Aceh. The Indonesian armed forces used a combination of enticement and coercion to recruit them as military informers. Now they are effectively prisoners of the separatist rebels.

Widjajanto/Dyah Prabandari, Jakarta – The United States offered to facilitate in solving the Acehnese problem. This statement by US Ambassador to Indonesia Ralph L. Boyce caught people's attention.

Achmad Sukarsono, Jakarta – A peace negotiator from the rebel Free Aceh Movement (GAM) on Wednesday welcomed US willingness to help Indonesia resolve a long-running conflict with the separatist group. An Indonesian government official said it wasn't clear what the United States had in mind.

Jakarta – Nine more killings were reported in Indonesia's Aceh province, the scene of a decades-old separatist revolt, as US ambassador Ralph Boyce spent a second day there.

Jakarta – Separatist rebels in Indonesia's Aceh province have criticized Jakarta's decision to extend military operations there as a "declaration of war" on the Acehnese people.

Top security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on Thursday announced the extension of military operations in the energy-rich province on the north of Sumatra island.

Annastashya Emmanuelle and Fabiola Desy Unidjaja, Jakarta – The government, which has come under strong criticism from human rights activists for reviving the Aceh military command just this week, is now set to give a new mandate to the military to crush the separatist movement in Aceh.

Derwin Pereira, Jakarta – The Indonesian army yesterday tightened the screws on rebels in Aceh and dealt a potential blow to the peace process there with the inauguration of a new military command to specifically handle the restive province.

Ibnu Mat Noor, Banda Aceh – Despite two days of dialog between the Indonesian government and the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in Geneva on Saturday and Sunday, violence continued unabated in the war-torn province, claiming at least 10 lives, including those of two servicemen.

Jakarta – Separatist rebels in Indonesia's Aceh province confirmed they would discuss Jakarta's autonomy law in future peace talks but denied they are softening calls for independence.

Jakarta – Separatist rebels in Indonesia's restive province of Aceh, in a statement received Monday, urged local and foreign journalists to investigate conditions there and promised them protection.

Banda Aceh – At least four people including two suspected separatist rebels have been killed in Indonesia's restive Aceh province on the eve of peace talks due this weekend in Geneva, the army and residents said Friday.

Lhokseumawe – Weapons are not the way to wipe out the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) guerrilla army even though their leader was killed last week, says the commander of Indonesian forces in the restive province.

The Indonesian government and the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) will resume peace talks in Switzerland this weekend after a break of more than six months, according to a mediation body.

Pidie – An unmarked mound of muddy earth marks the grave of Abdullah Syafii, the Acehnese guerrilla commander killed by Indonesian troops last week.

Jakarta – Indonesian rights activists and analysts have criticised a decision to revive a separate army command for Aceh as a misguided attempt to impose a military solution in the troubled province.

The emphasis on force to end the separatist struggle could damage Indonesia's fledgling democracy and the army's own reform drive, they warned.

Anna Peltola, Stockholm – Separatist rebels in Indonesia's troubled Aceh province said on Tuesday they would not meet Jakarta representatives face-to-face in peace talks scheduled for this weekend.

Jakarta – An Indonesian general predicted a long war against separatist rebels in Aceh despite the killing of their military leader. "This war will still be long," said Kostrad strategic reserve commander Lieutenant General Ryamizard Ryacudu, whose men shot dead Abdullah Syafii on Tuesday.

Jakarta – Separatist rebels in Indonesia's troubled Aceh province said on Friday they were still open to peace talks with Jakarta despite the shooting of its top military chiefs by security forces earlier this week.

Ridwan Max Sijabat, Jakarta – The death of Free Aceh Movement (GAM) Commander Tengku Abdullah Syafi'ie, has solidified the separatist movement and increased the guerrillas' will to fight for the independence of Aceh, says GAM spokesman Ayah Sofyan.

Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – To avoid more bloodshed following the killing of military commander of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) Tengku Abdullah Syafi'ie, the House of Representatives (DPR) urged the government on Thursday to intensify dialog with the insurgents and resolve the Aceh question through peaceful means.

Vaudine England, Jakarta – Indonesia's armed forces claimed a major victory yesterday with the killing of the commander of the Acehnese separatist rebels, Abdullah Syafei.

Troops said they shot Syafei in the chest during a raid on the jungle headquarters of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM). GAM has yet to confirm the killing.

Jakarta – Aceh separatist rebels accused Indonesian authorities of tracking their slain military commander by inserting a microchip into an invitation letter for peace talks.

Jakarta – Separatist guerrillas in Aceh will press on with their 25-year-long revolt against Indonesian rule despite the killing of their military commander, Abdullah Syafii, analysts said Thursday.

Deddy Sinaga, Jakarta – The Commission for Missing Persons & Victims of Violence (Kontras) says the death of Tengku Abdullah Syafi'ie, the commander of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) killed in an exchange of gunfire with the Indonesian Military (TNI) this week, shows that the Indonesian government continues to prefer repressive measures for handling problems in Aceh.

Annastashya Emmanuelle and Kurniawan Hari, Jakarta – Pressures mounted on Tuesday against the planned reinstatement of the military command in restive Aceh, but both the government and the House of Representatives turned a deaf ear to the outcry.

Max Lane – There has been almost total support in Aceh for the three-day general strike called by the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) for January 16-18 to protest against the decision of the Indonesian government to re-establish an Aceh Military Command.

Banda Aceh – Two more people have been killed in Indonesia's restive province of Aceh where separatists have been fighting for an independent state since the 1970s, the military and an activist said Tuesday.

Apriadi Gunawan, Medan – Maj. Gen.

Banda Aceh – At least five people including a marine and two suspected separatist rebels have been killed in the latest violence in the restive Indonesian province of Aceh, the military and residents said Monday.

Banda Aceh – Indonesian Vice-President Hamzah Haz yesterday warned the Acehnese against harbouring futile dreams of independence, as a general strike called by separatist rebels hit the province for a second day.

Achmad Sukarsono, Jakarta – Indonesia's rebellious province of Aceh began returning to normal on Friday, the last day of a strike called by separatist rebels to draw attention to the decades-long conflict, residents said.

Banda Aceh – Eight more deaths were reported Friday as a general strike called by separatist rebels gripped Indonesia's restive province of Aceh for a third day. Most public minibuses stayed off the streets, schools remained shut and most shops were closed, especially in the main towns of Banda Aceh and Lhokseumawe.

A general strike called by separatist rebels shut down businesses and public transport for a second day in Indonesia's restive province of Aceh, residents said.