Jakarta – A soldier shot and killed two civilians before turning his gun on himself, and eight other people have also been killed in separate incidents in the strife-torn province of Aceh.

An army spokesman said Chief Private Kun Hendrianto had killed two people when he fired at random in a street in Takengon, the capital of Central Aceh district, on Sunday night.

Hendrianto, who had been suffering from malaria, then shot himself in the head.

Two others who were wounded in the incident were taken to a hospital in northern Aceh, according to the military, while other reports said four people had been seriously injured. Elsewhere in Aceh, soldiers killed eight suspected rebels in four separate gunbattles on Sunday and Monday.