Jakarta – Police yesterday beefed up security at the US$2.5 billion Arun LNG refinery following reports of arson over the weekend, and have blamed rebels for a new round of killings in the restive Aceh province.

A policemen was kidnapped and six civilians were killed in three separate incidents in North Aceh. Meanwhile, the body of Corp. [Police] Ali Rahman Siregar was found Saturday on a roadside in Nisam district, AP reported Aceh police chief Col. Bachrumsyah Kasman as saying from the provincial capital of Banda Aceh. Siregar was abducted on Friday as he rode a motorcycle home from work.

Kasman said four civilians were found dead in a pit near Beuream. All had their necks slashed. Another two people were shot to death by unidentified gunmen in Batee Geulungkuh. Kasman blamed the pro-independence Free Aceh Movement for the seven deaths.

Hundreds of people have been killed this year in fighting between troops and rebels who want to set up an independent Islamic state in the oil and gas-rich region, about 2,000 kilometers northwest of Jakarta. Security forces and rebels have accused one another of causing the deaths of civilians.

Meanwhile, Reuters quoted witnesses as saying anti-riot soldiers were continuing to patrol the area despite an earlier pledge by Indonesian Military [TNI] Commander General Wiranto that they would be withdrawn from villages.

"They were still patrolling the villages, entering houses and kitchens belonging to the public. And they were even searching the forests," one witness said, adding the situation was tense. Aceh was under an often savage military rule for nine years in which at least 2,000 people – mostly civilians – were killed.

In a related development, Mandiri Online reported that fire broke out on Friday in Arun, the world's largest LNG refinery located in Aceh's industrial city of Lhokseumawe.

Security forces blamed the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) for the arson, while GAM blamed the military, saying it needed to justify its heavy presence in the territory.