Jakarta – More than 39,000 people have been killed in military operations against a separatist movement in the northern Indonesian province of Aceh in recent years, a rights group said.

The Aceh Non Governmental Organisation Forum also said that between 1,000 and 3,000 people from the province who were deported by Malaysia this year were still detained by police because of suspected links with the separatists, press reports said today.

The government-funded Human Rights Commission (Komnas Ham) has said it will take up events in the north Sumatra province with General Wiranto, the defence minister and head of the military (ABRI).

A commission member BN Marbun said "we will ask ABRI to pull out all soldiers deployed to crush the separatist rebel movement as well as lift the military operation region status in the province," the Jakarta Post reported.

A special military status exists in Aceh, the former Portuguese colony of East Timor and Irian Jaya because of separatist movements. The movements of diplomats and foreign journalists are strictly controlled in the regions.

The Aceh National Liberation Front has been fighting for independence since the 1970s from what the group calls "Javanese colonisation." The province is rich in natural gas.

The Indonesian authorities launched a major operation against the rebels at the start of the 1990s. The actions of the Kopasss elite force in Aceh, Irian Jaya and East Timor have been regularly condemned by international rights groups such Amnesty International and Human Rights Watch. The Aceh NGO Forum said that between 1,000 and 3,000 people from Aceh who were deported from Malaysia as illegal immigrants were still in dentention camps because of suspected links with the separatist movement.