Indonesia said Monday that security in war-torn Aceh province has improved because nearly 7,000 rebels have been killed or captured and most rebel strongholds seized in the past 16 months.

Home Affairs Minister Hari Sabarno said, however, that at least 2,000 rebels from the Free Aceh Movement are still roaming in four districts. Authorities originally estimated that the rebel force totaled 2,000 but they increased the number to about 8,500 after Jakarta abandoned an internationally mediated peace plan in May 2003 and launched a military operation to crush the insurgency.

"Security and political stability is conducive," Sabarno told reporters after a Cabinet meeting. "Our forces have seized and taken control of most rebel bases. But there are some who managed to get away. Some even dared to return to town but without their guns." He said security forces had killed or detained almost 7,000 rebels.

Rebel leaders were not available for comment. It is impossible to independently verify military claims about Aceh, because journalists are barred from most of the province.

Sabarno said seven villages out of an estimated 5,000 in the province were classified as "black," or under control of the rebels, and that three villages were virtually abandoned.

Human rights groups accuse the military of operating death squads in the oil- and gas-rich region on the northern tip of Sumatra island and say most victims are ordinary villagers.

Last month, the government downgraded a one-year state of martial law to a state of emergency in the province, handing authority back to a civilian administration. Still, the military continues to maintain a large presence there.

Rebels began fighting in 1976 for an independent homeland in the province of 4.3 million people.