Banda Aceh – Indonesian President Abdurrahman Wahid visited the troubled province of Aceh on Tuesday and pledged to continue talks with separatist rebels after a truce expires next month.

But Wahid, speaking during a flying three-and-a-half-hour visit to the violence-torn province, said Jakarta would not extend the truce with the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) when it expires on January 15.

"We will end the humanitarian pause, but we'll continue to hold dialogue until Aceh is completely free [from violence] in the framework of the Republic of Indonesia," he said.

Wahid also described GAM rebels, who have been fighting for an independent Aceh sultanate since the mid-1970s, as "our brothers," and cautioned government troops against harshness.

"I ask the government apparatus not to treat people as their enemies, treat them as friends," the president said during a ceremony marking the first revelation of the Muslim holy book, the Koran, at Banda Aceh's Baiturrahman grand mosque.

At the end of his speech, three members of the student-based organisation SIRA, which is campaigning for a referendum on independence for the province, asked to meet Wahid to demand the release of their leader Muhammad Nazar. Nazar, SIRA chairman, was arrested last month by police for organizing pro-independence protests.

One of the students, Effendi Hasan, who met Wahid privately before the president left the mosque, said the Indonesian leader had promised to relay the demand to the authorities.

Residents expressed disappointment at having no chance to have a dialogue with the president. "Why can't we talk to the president?" a man in the mosque yelled out as soon as the ceremony ended with a prayer.

Wahid arrived in the rain-soaked provincial capital of Banda Aceh amid tight security after a bomb had detonated 300 meters from the grand mosque. The rain forced organizers to abandon a planned helicopter ride into the city, and the president travelled by road.

Accompanying him were senior security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, military chief Admiral Widodo Adisucipto, national police chief General Suroyo Bimantoro and 16 ambassadors from Islamic countries.

The streets of the city were quiet but tense in the wake of the bomb explosion at the home of Aceh's military police chief. The blast caused minor damage but no casualties, police spokesman senior superintendent Kusbini Imbar told AFP.

A plan to declare the imposition of Sharia Islamic law during the visit, part of efforts by the Wahid government to pacify the clamour for independence in the devoutly Islamic province, was cancelled due to popular criticism. Acehnese leaders said Islam has been deeply ingrained in Aceh for centuries, and the delaration of Sharia was redundant.

At least 11 attacks were launched on police posts in Banda Aceh on Monday night ahead of the visit, Imbar said. But a source at the Aceh police, who requested anonymity, blamed the attacks on hard-line elements in the Indonesian military who wanted to see Jakarta impose emergency status on Aceh.

Five new deaths were reported Monday, including those of four people whose bodies were found in separate places in Bireun district. The wife of a policeman was found dead with stab wounds at her home in Mankawan village in North Aceh. North Aceh police chief Superintendent Wanto Sumardi blamed GAM rebels for her killing.

Also on Monday shots were fired by Indonesian troops – described by police as "stressed out" after a long posting in Aceh – at an aircraft chartered by the ExxonMobil oil company. There were no casualties.

Despite the shaky truce in place since June between Jakarta and GAM, the violence has continued and more than 800 people have been killed there this year. Jakarta has flatly ruled out independence for Aceh but pledged to introduce broad autonomy.