Jakarta – Indonesian police and soldiers set fire to dozens of houses and shops on Friday in the troubled Aceh province to avenge the killing of a soldier, a report said.

A soldier was found dead in the Lammeu area of Pidie district on Friday morning, prompting security authorities to send troops to the area to search for the assailants, the Detik online news service said.

Police and soldiers found homes in the area deserted by residents who had sought refuge in mosques in fear, Detik said. They torched shops and homes after failing to find the killer, it said.

Two civilians and one soldier were injured in violence Thursday between soldiers and rebels of the Free Aceh (GAM) separatist movement in the province, police sources said. The clash occured when troops raided a suspected GAM underground training facility in Blang Pante village in the Matangkuli area of North Aceh.

Police in Banda Aceh, the provincial capital, told AFP they knew about the incident from the military command based in North Aceh. "We've received reports about a raid on a GAM underground training facility in Blang Pante village by some 40 military personnel," an officer with the Banda Aceh police information office told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Banda Aceh's Serambi newspaper said troops involved in the raid were later ambushed by rebels as they crossed a bridge, which was blown up. It said one soldier broke his arm while jumping from a truck. The ambush prompted a massive sweep by troops, who later beat up two men from another village in the area.

Some 1,000 residents from six nearby villages left their homes and sought shelter at the Paya Bakong grand mosque in Matangkuli after troops entered their villages on Thursday, Serambi reported. The newspaper also reported claims by villagers the troops burned at at least 28 stores. The military denied the charges.