Jakarta – Indonesian soldiers have killed four suspected separatist rebels in the troubled province of Aceh, the official Antara news agency said Tuesday.

The troops shop dead the four guerillas of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in a raid Monday on a hideout in the Bengga village in Pidie district, an Aceh military spokesman, Major Zainal Muttaqin, was quoted by Antara as saying.

Muttaqin said the troops seized an AK-47 rifle, a Colt pistol, a hand grenade and ammunition.

Aceh, a resource-rich region on the northern tip of Sumatra island, has seen daily violence between rebels from GAM and security forces. An estimated 10,000 people have been killed, including some 1,600 this year, since GAM was founded in 1976 to push for a separate Islamic state, according to rights groups.

Separatism has been fuelled by years of human rights abuses by the military and the central government's draining of the region's oil and gas wealth. Rights groups also accuse rebels of abuses.