Jakarta – Indonesian soldiers who killed a senior separatist leader in the conflict-hit province of Aceh are to receive a reward equivalent to US$16,000, an official said on Saturday.

East Aceh Regent Azman Usmanuddin said he would make good on an earlier promise to reward anyone who caught rebel leader Ishak Daud "dead or alive".

The Free Aceh Movement, which is behind a decades-long independence struggle in Aceh, on Friday confirmed Daud was the first high-ranking rebel commander killed since government forcesbegan an all-out offensive in May 2003.

Azman said the soldiers would receive 100 million rupiah ($10,800) from his personal coffers and another 50 million rupiah from Aceh governor Abdullah Puteh.

It was not clear how many soldiers will share the cash reward,an enormous sum in a country where most people get less than two dollars a day.

A rebel spokesman said Daud was killed on Thursday along with his wife and an aide during an encounter with government forces the east of Aceh, a resource-rich but impoverished province on the northern tip of Sumatra island.

He was among senior rebels wanted since his group hijacked a car with a television crew and the wives of two air force officers last year.

A television reporter among the abducted crew was shot dead during a skirmish between the rebels and troops. Daud's group was also responsible for the abduction of morethan 130 civilians, most of whom were released in May.

Military and police figures show more than 2,200 rebels have been killed since the launch of the government operation in May 2003. Rights activists say many of the dead have been civilians, the Agence France Presse reported.