Surabaya – Indonesian police have shot dead two farmers and wounded scores more in two days of clashes over land compensation claims in East Java province, police and witnesses said on Monday.

Police said they opened fire on 400 machete-wielding farmers near the town of Blitar on Monday. The farmers were protesting close to a clove plantation owned by local firm PT Perkebunan Branggah. They claimed the plantation company forced them to give up the land 20 years ago.

"One person was killed and about 16 others were injured," Blitar police chief Lieutenant-Colonel Anang Iskandar told Reuters, insisting that police only used rubber bullets.

It was the second clash in 24 hours. On Sunday one farmer was shot dead and seven wounded when some 400 protesters went on a rampage, burning several buildings on the plantation compound. It was unclear if police made any arrests.

Land clashes and other violence have become common across Indonesia since the fall of former autocratic president Suharto in 1998 amid widespread economic and social chaos.

Many disgruntled villagers have staged protests against plantation companies and mining operators demanding greater compensation for land. They often complain they were not involved in the signing of past contracts. Blitar was the birthplace of Indonesia's founding president Sukarno.

In a separate attack, a soldier threw two grenades at a hotel in the north Sumatran city of Medan on Monday morning, damaging 11 rooms, police said.

No one was hurt in the attack, which police said was triggered after the soldier believed his wife was in the hotel with another man. The soldier had been detained. Medan has been the scene of numerous attacks in recent months, including bomb and grenade blasts.