State troops have killed more than 230 suspected separatist rebels in Aceh province since martial law was lifted two months ago, an official said Wednesday (21/7/04).

Police spokesman Senior Commissioner Anjaya said that from May 19 to July 19, troops killed 232 members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM). That's an average of more than four killings a day.

Human rights activists say many of those killed in the resource-rich province, located in northern Sumatra, were civilians.

Nine soldiers and two police were killed over the same period, said Anjaya, who is also a spokesman for Aceh's civil emergency authority, which replaced the martial law administration on May 19. During the same period, 114 suspected rebels were arrested and another 95 surrendered, he added.

Authorities had claimed that replacing martial law with the civil emergency administration would reduce tensions between the rebels and state security forces, but the ongoing violence shows no signs of abating.

The government on May 19, 2003, launched a massive military operation to crush the rebel movement, after the collapse of a five-month ceasefire. At that time the Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI) estimated GAM's strength at 5,251 personnel.

Since then at least 2,195 rebels have been killed, while a further 3,585 have been arrested or surrendered, according to military data. That amounts to 5,780 GAM members taken out of action, well above TNI's initial estimate.

TNI explains the discrepancy by claiming GAM recruited new members during last year's ceasefire and during the ongoing offensive.

TNI commander General Endriartono Sutarto on May 5 said GAM's strength had been reduced to 30% – meaning about 1,500 rebels were still at large. With 441 removed since then, there are now about 1,059 rebels left.

At the ongoing rate of killings, arrests and surrenders – 7.22 per day – GAM should theoretically be eradicated within 146 days, or by mid-December. But it remains to be seen whether the military will want to curb its presence in the province, where soldiers have a saying that they "either go home rich or dead".

An estimated 13,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in Aceh since GAM began fighting for independence in 1976.