Sian Powell, Jakarta – Accelerating hostilities in the tsunami-devastated Indonesian province of Aceh have killed as many as 110 people since the Boxing Day disaster, separatist rebels claim, including more than 80 unarmed civilians.

The continuing clashes have prompted claim and counter-claim from the Indonesian military and the rebels, each blaming the other for the fighting.

Indonesian military spokesman Edyana Sulistiadi said yesterday there had been "many small incidents" between the military or TNI and the Free Aceh Movement, or GAM, and confirmed there had been about 34 clashes.

"The trend is that they are trying to disturb the humanitarian operation," Lieutenant-Colonel Sulistiadi said. "People need supplies – food, medicine. But we have already made preparations to secure the routes used by humanitarian teams."

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has said he ordered the military to go "into defensive mode" the day after the tsunami hit. "I do not see any disobedience from the TNI toward my instructions as President," he told Time magazine last Friday. "There has been no offensive operation since the disaster."

Lieutenant-Colonel Sulistiadi said no Indonesian soldiers had been killed in the battles, and only one had been wounded. As for rebel casualties, he said no strict count had been kept. "We haven't counted them," he said. "If we count them, then later GAM will blame us."

GAM leader Sofyan Dawood told The Australian yesterday many of the so-called firefights were in fact the Indonesian military firing on civilians.

"They consider them to be firefights and the victims have been recorded as GAM casualties," he said. "The TNI said in total 110 GAM members had been killed, but according to our records it is 20, and the rest are civilians. So it's an old song. If an Acehnese is shot dead, they say they were GAM." The rebel leader claimed only five of the 20 rebels shot dead were armed.

Mr Dawood said the Danish Government's recent warning of a terrorist attack on foreign aid workers in Aceh was ridiculous. "In their heads the terrorists are GAM," he said.

GAM would do no such thing, and the Islamic militants in Aceh for the relief effort did not have the means or the capability for a terrorist attack. "And we would crush them if that happened," he said. "But I am afraid they could do worse than that. They could make trouble with the Acehnese, entering villages to influence the Acehnese not to accept foreigners. They will raise religious issues."

Mr Dawood admitted the rebels were running short of food and basic necessities, which were obtained clandestinely in small quantities from markets. A barn that was full of supplies before the tsunamis hit was now nearly empty, he said. "We have given it to the people – you can ask the Acehnese who fed them for the first three days."