Banda Aceh – Separatist violence flared in Indonesia's troubled Aceh province, leaving 11 people dead, police and witnesses said Saturday. Friday's deaths – nine civilians, one police officer and a separatist rebel – bring to 24 the number killed this year.

They come as negotiators from the Indonesian government and rebel forces prepare to meet in Switzerland on Monday for a new round of peace talks. The talks are aimed at extending a fragile and largely symbolic cease-fire that is due to expire on January 15.

Security forces said the police officer was shot and killed in a battle with a separatist gang in the south of Aceh, a province located on the northern tip of Sumatra island.

The rebel was killed during a military raid on a rebel hide-out in southern Aceh, said Capt. Sultan Depok Samandoko, who led the assault. He said six other rebels were captured and two other escaped. On Saturday, villagers found three bodies near the rebel hide-out, officials at the local hospital said.

Elsewhere, two men were shot and killed by an assailant on a motorcycle in the town of Lhokseumawe. Four others died in separate attacks in the province's east.

Police have blamed the rebels for all the killings, but Syaiful Bachri, a volunteer for a local refugee organization, claimed that two of those killed in eastern Aceh were shot by soldiers in a busy marketplace. The separatist Free Aceh Movement took responsibility only for the police officer's death.

The guerrilla group has been waging a low-level insurgency against Indonesian rule for the past 26 years. At least 6,000 people have been killed in the past decade in the province. About 1,000 died last year.

Monday's peace talks in Geneva could prove to be a turning point in the conflict. Some Indonesian Cabinet ministers and hard-line army generals are pressing President Abdurrahman Wahid to launch a major crackdown against the insurgents, while rebel leaders have warned of civil war if the truce is not extended.

Wahid has offered to keep negotiations with the rebels open and plans to give greater self-rule to the province. But he has rejected demands for outright independence.

Since the cease-fire came into effect in June last year, at least 525 people have died and another 325 are missing.