Jakarta – Indonesian troops have shot dead six suspected rebels in Aceh a day after the government said it was ready to sign a truce with the province's separatist movement.

Lieutenant Colonel Firdaus Komarno, a military spokesman in Aceh, said a one-hour gunbattle took place on Friday not far from the local capital, Banda Aceh, after soldiers received reports from residents that rebels were operating in the area.

"The fight took place for about one hour. There were a number of armed personnel on their side but we were able to handle it," Komarno said by telephone on Saturday from Banda Aceh, 1,700 km northwest of Jakarta.

He said the six dead were part of a group of up to 15 suspected rebels. Around 30 soldiers were involved in the clash, and none was wounded, Komarno added. Representatives of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) were not immediately available to comment.

Chief security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono said on Thursday that Indonesia was ready to sign a truce with the rebels next week to help quell a two-decade conflict in which thousands of people have been killed.

The latest round of peace talks with rebels is expected to be held in Switzerland before the end of this month. More than two years of periodic negotiations have done little to halt bloodshed in the resource-rich province.

The Aceh rebels demand an independent state on the northernmost tip of Sumatra island and one of their negotiators has said talks were expected to resume on October 27. GAM has not said whether it would sign a truce.

Aceh is one of two separatist hotspots in Indonesia, the other being in the eastern province of Papua. The Brussels-based International Crisis Group (ICG) has estimated around 2,000 people were killed in the Aceh conflict last year alone.