Banda Aceh – The Indonesian government and the separatist Aceh Merdeka movement (GAM) issued a joint call Thursday for restraint to stop the violence in the troubled province of Aceh.

Both sides called on "all personnel of the Indonesian armed forces and the national police, as well as the GAM, to again exercise restraint, so as not to give rise ... to tension and violence amid the society," they said in a statement.

The statement, read to journalists here by GAM representative Sofyan Ibrahim Tiba, also urged both sides to respect regulations laid down by a joint committee on security modalities.

And they urged everyone, including operators of public transport, to resume daily activities. "It is hoped that all can engage in their respective daily activities in a calm manner and in respect of prevailing laws and regulations," Tiba said.

Senior Superintendent Ridwan Karim, a government representative on the committee set up to help implement a May truce, said both sides were concerned about security in Aceh.

The security conditions had "claimed victims and properties and caused the worsening of the economy because of traffic blockages in Aceh which ultimately poses a heavier burden on the people of Aceh," Karim said.

Both sides agreed to enter talks on the political substance of the conflict as soon as possible, he said. But none of the representatives gave a date.

The GAM said earlier this week it was pulling out of planned peace talks in Geneva on Friday until the Indonesian security forces halted violence in Aceh. And Tiba reiterated Thursday: "As long as violence is still being perpetrated by personnel of the armed forces and national police on site, the GAM will not resume negotiations to discuss the political substance [of the conflict]."

The call for restraint came as earlier Thursday armed men ambushed a police patrol in Kluet Utara sub-district in South Aceh, leaving three policemen badly wounded, said South Aceh Police Chief Superintendent Ali Husein.

Aceh police operations spokesman Senior Superintendent Kusbini Imbar meanwhile said the chief of the Padang Tiji subdistrict police, who was injured in a grenade attack on his home on Monday, had died while being treated at the police hospital in Medan on Wednesday.

The government and the GAM signed a three-month truce in May, which was extended for another three months in September, but it has so far failed to curb the violence.

The GAM has been fighting for independence from Indonesia for the past 20 years in the staunchly Muslim province. Jakarta, still smarting over the loss of East Timor in a UN-supervised ballot last year, has ruled out independence for Aceh but has promised broad autonomy instead.