Lhokseumawe – Indonesian security forces killed 22 rebels in two separate gunbattles in Aceh province, officials said yesterday. In the most recent fighting, government soldiers shot 20 separatist guerillas in a gunbattle in central Aceh, said military spokesman Lt-Colonel Firdaus.

He said the clash occurred after patrolling soldiers ambushed a group of rebels who tried to attack several villages near the central Aceh capital of Takengon, about 1,700 km north-west of Jakarta.

"According to the villagers, they were rebels who had earlier massacred dozens of people and burned hundreds of houses in the area," he said, adding that that one soldier was wounded in the fighting.

Lt-Col Firdaus said earlier that two rebels were killed and two others were arrested after a shootout in eastern Aceh on Thursday.

Also on Thursday, villagers found the bodies of two civilians who were shot dead in northern Aceh, said Indonesian Red Cross official Mahyudin.

The incidents came as government officials prepared to meet rebel negotiators in Switzerland for the latest round of peace talks this weekend. The two sides entered into a truce last year. But it collapsed in February amid escalating violence.

An unofficial count showed that about 75 per cent of the 895 people killed in insurgency-related violence in Aceh this year have been civilians. Rebel casualties numbered 150, and 85 soliders were confirmed to have been killed.

The rebel Free Aceh Movement said it would press Jakarta at the talks to agree to the formation of a new independent monitoring team made up of international observers to check on the violations of peace accords.

The movement, which has been fighting for an independent homeland on the northern tip of Sumatra island for 26 years, argued that such a team would be crucial because "violence cannot be stopped by the perpetrators of the violence itself".