Banda Aceh – Eight policemen and soldiers were injured in separatist rebel attacks on security posts and a natural gas facility in Indonesia's Aceh province, police and residents said Tuesday. Three soldiers were wounded by grenade shrapnel when they came under attack while guarding the Exxon-Mobil Oil Indonesia's A-IV natural gas cluster in North Aceh's Matangkuli sub-district on late Sunday night.

Pasee district Free Aceh Movement (GAM) commander, Abu Sofyan Daud, claimed responsibility for the incident, saying it was in retaliation for the "abusive" attitude by troops in the area.

"We warned Exxon Mobil to immediately end its security contract with the TNI [armed forces] because security troops guarding the company have abused their authority by harassing residents," he said. "We have no intention to ban or disturb Exxon-Mobil's operation as long as they do not facilitate TNI soldiers' abuse of citizens," Daud told AFP.

Three elite police mobile brigade members were wounded after two suspected GAM members threw grenades at the Terbangan police post in South Aceh, said Aceh police spokesman Superintendent Yatim Suyatmo. "The three suffered injuries to their legs and chests, all of them are now being treated at the state hospital in Medan," the capital of neighboring North Sumatra province, Suyatmo told AFP Tuesday.

Suspected GAM rebels also attacked a police post in Geudong area of Samudera sub-district in North Aceh on late Sunday, injuring two duty policemen, Suyatmo added.

In Ulee Kareng area, six kilometers east of Banda Aceh, rebels also attacked the Syiah Kuala police post on late Monday night, residents said. No casualties were reported from the incident.