Banda Aceh – Indonesian troops shot and killed a former negotiator for separatist guerillas in Aceh province after he resisted arrest, a military spokesman said yesterday.

Rebel representative Amri Abdul Wahab accused security forces of dragging the former negotiator out of his house on Sunday in Pidie district, about 125-km east of the provincial capital Banda Aceh, and executing him.

Army spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Supartodi said troops opened fire on the victim – identified as Teungku Zulfani – when he tried to run away from them during a routine ID check. He said a handgun was found on the dead man but Mr Amri claimed the man was unarmed. Lt-Col Supartodi said he had no idea that the victim, a member of the Joint Committee on Security Modalities for last year's peace talks in Geneva – was a rebel negotiator.

Mr Amri confirmed that Teungku Zulfani was part of a team that negotiated with government officials last year to find a peaceful solution to the conflict. The talks resulted in a ceasefire between the two sides which collapsed after seven months.

Rebels have been fighting for an independent homeland in the province on the northern tip of Sumatra island since 1975. At least 1,200 people have been killed this year. President Megawati Sukarnoputri led a peace mission to the province last month, but it failed to end the fighting.

Five other deaths were reported over the weekend, including a policeman's. Unknown gunmen killed the policeman in the Darussalam area of Banda Aceh late on Saturday, said district police chief Sayed Husainy.

Residents in the Banda Sakti district of North Aceh said yesterday that they found the body of a 35-year-old woman with gunshot wounds on Saturday.

In the Meurah Mulia district of North Aceh, local humanitarian activists said they had removed three decomposed bodies with gunshot wounds on Sunday afternoon.