Banda Aceh – A series of explosions and arson attacks rocked the capital of the troubled Indonesian province of Aceh overnight but caused no casualties, police and residents said Tuesday.

A homemade bomb exploded in the early hours of Tuesday at the office of the National Family Planning Agency in Baet, some six kilometres north of Banda Aceh's central area, police spokesman Yatim Suyatmo said.

"The office was destroyed and burned by a homemade bomb set up inside the building," Suyatmo said. The blast, and other incidents in Banda Aceh that night, left no casualties, Suyatmo said.

About four hours earlier, another explosion hit the Syiah Kuala sub-district office and the nearby religious affairs office in Banda Aceh, he added. The religious affairs' office was gutted by the fire that broke out following the blast while the sub-district office was only slightly damaged, Suyatmo said.

The fish auction centre in Lampulo village in the Kuto Alam sub-district of Banda Aceh was torched by a group of men at about the same time the bomb went off at Syiah Kuala, a resident there said.

The village hall in Krueng Cut, in the Darussalam sub-district near Banda Aceh, was also devastated by a homemade bomb about one hour before midnight, Suyatmo said. "I see these blasts as having been done by one group, the GAM," Suyatmo said refering to the Free Aceh separatist movement that has been fighting for an independent Muslim state since 1976.

"The aim [of the bombings] is to show their presence and spread terror among the population," he said. There was no immediate statement from GAM officials. Residents said that electricity was cut for the duration of the incidents.