Agencies in Banda Aceh – Indonesian troops yesterday raided four villages in troubled Aceh province searching for rebels, a day after a landmark meeting there between an Indonesian envoy and a rebel leader, residents said.

Four truckloads of soldiers from the army Kostrad strategic reserve command went from village to village in Gleumpang Tiga sub-district, assaulting people and rounding up men, the residents said.

The action follows a meeting on Thursday between acting State Secretary Bondan Gunawan and the commander of the Aceh Merdeka (Free Aceh) Movement, Abdullah Syafi'ie, in the same district.

The soldiers made no arrests in the four villages, the closest of them just 7km away from the site of the meeting between Mr Gunawan and Syafi'ie.

"Why just after the meeting between Bondan [Mr Gunawan] and Syafi'ie, with Bondan himself calling for a halt to violence, did the troops conduct the search?" a resident, Teungku Mahatmuda, asked.

Earlier Acehnese leaders expressed hope that the 25-year civil war in Indonesia's western province may be coming to an end. Mr Gunawan said he and Syafi'ie had agreed to try to spare non- combatants from the conflict between soldiers and rebels that has killed thousands, including many civilians.

"The meeting was to get to know each other," he said. "Both of us don't like violence. We agreed not to make the people victims."

Mr Gunawan said after meeting President Abdurrahman Wahid on the outcome of his talks with Syafi'ie that the commander was wishing for a creation of a federal Indonesia. "I ... believe [Syafi'ie] is wishing for a federal state," he said without giving further details.

"We welcome the meeting of the two," Teuku Maulida, another rebel leader, said. "We hope it paves the way for negotiations and for a peaceful settlement."