Aceh – Separatist rebels have stepped up attacks on military and police installations in Indonesia's troubled Aceh province, leaving three people dead.

A police private was shot dead on Wednesday in an exchange of gunfire after suspected separatist guerillas launched a grenade at a police post in Bireun district in northern Aceh, while another policeman was seriously injured in the fighting. A local commander of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), Darwis Jeunib, said his group was responsible.

In a separate incident, a policeman gunned down an unidentified man who tried to attack him with a machete in Jeumpa sub-district. A ticket attendant at the bus station in East Aceh was also shot dead on Tuesday night.