Banda Aceh – At least five civilians were killed in the Indonesian province of Aceh where separatist rebels are fighting government forces, residents said Sunday.

Four civilians were found dead, all with gunshot wounds in Muara Dua, North Aceh, near a pipeline of the ExxonMobil gas field on Saturday, a resident said.

All four victims had been arrested by security personnel the previous day while they were at a prayer, the resident said.Seven people were arrested but three were later released, the resident said, declining to be identified.

Aceh Military Spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Firdaus denied that the forces had killed anyone. "At the reported time, there were no military on duty in Uteunkot and among the victims was one civil servant," Firdays said, blaming the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) for the killing.

The local GAM deputy commander, Sofyan Daud, denied the accusation and said security personnel involved in the arrest and killing were based at the Lhokseumawe harbour.

Meanwhile, the wife of a village headman in South Aceh was shot dead by unknown men in front of her own house on Saturday, residents told journalists in Tapaktuan, a district town.The incidents took place a day after Vice President Hamzah Haz visited several districts in the province to meet local representatives in a bid to gather input for President Megawati Sukarnoputri.

Haz had called on all sides in Aceh to bury the hatchet and engage in talks to try resolve their problems. He offered an amnesty for the rebels, who have been fighting for a free Muslim state in Aceh since 1976.

But he ruled out allowing secession for the resource-rich province on the northern tip of Sumatra island.More than 1,600 people have perished in the violence between government and rebel forces in Aceh this year.