Banda Aceh – Separatist rebels in tsunami-ravaged Aceh province exchanged gunfire with Indonesian soldiers escorting an aid convoy over the weekend, but no relief workers were injured, a spokeswoman said Monday.

Sporadic gunfights between the rebels and security forces have occurred despite a unilateral cease-fire declared by the guerrillas after the December 26 tsunami disaster. The insurgents, who are not known to attack foreigners, have also said they would not target aid groups assisting tsunami survivors.

The gunfire broke out Saturday along Aceh's west coast as the UN-affiliated International Organization for Migration was hauling goods and supplies destined for survivors, said Simona Opitz, the organization's spokeswoman.

She said one soldier was slightly injured, but stressed that the IOM was not targeted by the rebels of the Free Aceh Movement, or GAM. "The convoys will continue," she said, adding that this was the first shooting incident involving an IOM convoy. "We got caught in the middle, basically, but we weren't targeted."

A separate firefight occurred Sunday in Harapan village in western Aceh, in which one Indonesian soldier was killed and seven others wounded, said Army Col. Narowi, who goes by only one name.

The incidents also came as the two sides were set to meet Monday in Helsinki, Finland after GAM agreed to hear out the government's proposal on wide-ranging autonomy for the province of 4.1 million people.

The rebels, who have been fighting for a separate state in the oil- and gas-rich region since 1976, will demand a full withdrawal of the 50,000 Indonesian security forces from the region as part of a negotiated settlement, a member of the rebel delegation said.