Jakarta – A crowd of people were holding three military men hostage in Indonesia's troubled Aceh province Thursday, two days after an ambush there left at least five off-duty soliders dead, reports and sources said Thursday.

Armed forces spokesman Major General Syamsul Ma'arif said five soldiers were initially held hostage by a crowd Wednesday in Blang Panjang village in Muara Dua district of North Aceh. Two had managed to escape, but the whereabouts of the three was still unknown, Ma'arif was quoted as telling the Kompas daily.

The hostage incident came a day after hundreds of villagers ambushed a bus in Lhok Nibong village in Simpang Ulim district of East Aceh and dragged out 18 off-duty soldiers – violence the government blamed on separatist militants.

The military information office on Wednesday put the death toll in the ambush at seven, citing reports from soldiers who had escaped their attackers, but Ma'arif Thursday put the number of victims at five. The five had all been identified, but their bodies were still missing, Ma'arif said.

However, the deputy police chief of East Aceh told AFP early Thursday that the body of Private Robinson Sialagan was found Wednesday afternoon in the Arakundu River near the site of the first ambush. "But witnesses said five others are still missing. The police and military are still looking for them," said Major Muhammad Akmil, indicating that the toll in that ambush may have been six, and not five.