Almost 300 civilians were killed in the first two months of the Indonesian military's campaign to crush separatist rebels in Aceh, a rights group in the province said.
The Aceh Referendum Information Centre (SIRA) said in a statement that 235 civilians were killed in the first month after the offensive was launched on May 19 and another 60 in the second month.
The military's latest figures released Sunday show a total of 653 rebels killed since May 19 but do not list civilian casualties. The rebels of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) say many of those killed are civilians.
The military says more than 1,400 rebels have been arrested or surrendered during the same period while the army and police lost a total of 55 men.
SIRA, which seeks an independence referendum in the province, did not say who it believes killed most of the civilians. "For the TNI [armed forces], the fall of civilian casualites is deemed an unavoidable consequence of a war, no matter how large the civilian casualties," it said.
SIRA said the civilian death toll was calculated based on various reliable field sources but added that it faced difficulties in checking the figure itself. "Therefore, with the support and assistance of all, we are really hoping for a special report [rapporteur] of the UN or from an independent international institution for further investigation," SIRA said.
The head of the centre, Muhammad Nazar, was jailed for five years last month for sedition.
SIRA urged the government and the GAM, which has been fighting for independence since 1976, to protect civilians and resume negotiations based on the peace agreement they signed on December 9.
Jakarta unilaterally pulled out of the peace agreement, imposed martial law and launched the military operation after the breakdown of last-ditch peace talks in Tokyo. It accused GAM of not respecting the pact.
An international thinktank, in a report last month, said the military assault is only alienating Acehnese and fuelling support for GAM. The Brussels-based International Crisis Group also questioned military figures for rebel dead, saying there is no way to verify whether these were really guerrillas.
SIRA said that according to its records, the military has deployed some 50,000 troops backed by tanks, aircraft and warships in the province on Sumatra island. The military has not given recent figures for the size of its troop deployment. In June some 30,000 troops and 10,000 police were deployed.