Jakarta – Acehnese rebels Thursday accused Indonesian police of torturing to death one of their district leaders, the latest allegation of rights abuses against security forces in the war-torn province.

Indonesian police immediately denied the accusations. The separatist commander, identified only as M. Johan, was found dead in a police cell Wednesday after he was arrested last week, claimed Sofjan Dawood, a spokesman of the Free Aceh Movement.

"He was found dead ... with heavy torture marks all over his body," Dawood said in a statement. "Arbitrary killing, rape, intimidation and robbery have become weapons ... to subdue the Acehnese."

Police in Aceh denied the allegations, but declined to give any more details, including confirming whether Johan was ever in their custody. "The information is not true and came from a liar," said Lt. Col. Sayed Huseini.

In May 2003, Indonesia broke off internationally mediated peace talks, launched an offensive against rebels and imposed martial law in the province of 4.1 million people on the northern tip of Sumatra island. It recently downgraded that to a civil emergency, but the military maintains a massive presence there and has continued offensive operations.

More than 2,000 people have been killed in Aceh since May 2003, many of them civilians caught up in the fighting or gunned down by death squads. Thousands more have been detained in overcrowded prisons where rights groups allege torture is routinely used to force confessions.

The Free Aceh Movement has been fighting for an independent state in the oil-and-gas rich province since 1976. At least 13,000 have been killed since then.