Banda Aceh – Two policemen and a civilian were killed in the latest violence in Indonesia's strife-torn province of Aceh, police and witnesses said yesterday.

The killings occurred just hours after the opening on Wednesday of a landmark human rights trial in Banda Aceh in which 24 soldiers and a civilian are charged with massacring 57 unarmed villagers.

The officers were shot by unidentified gunmen in separate incidents in the capital, Banda Aceh, and in the district town of Bireuem, officials said.

The civilian also died in western Aceh on late Wednesday, said witnesses who spoke on condition of anonymity. They claimed the villager had been shot by police. Major Supriyadi Djalal, of the local police, said officers were investigating the incident.

The gas- and oil-rich Aceh region has long been plagued by civil war, pitting Indonesian forces against rebels belonging to the Free Aceh Movement. More than 5,000 people have been killed in the past decade, and about 300 in the past year alone.