Banda Aceh – Student groups in Indonesia's Aceh province Tuesday called for a full ceasefire between the government and separatist rebels as violence in the region claimed another life.

They said a truce between Jakarta and the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) that took effect in June and is due to expire on January 15 has failed to reduce violence in the province.

"A ceasefire is what the majority of Acehnese want to stop the violence," student leader Muhammad Taufik Abda said, reading from a statement signed by leaders 31 student groups in Aceh.

"The absence of sanctions for the violators is considered as the main culprit in the failure of the humanitarian pause [the name given to the truce]," Abda said.

The students also urged the government to fire outspoken Defense Minister Mohammad Mahfud and Aceh police chief Brigadier General Chaerul Rasyidi saying their statements on Aceh had aggravated the conflict.

Mahfud has warned that massive military operations will be launched against rebels if GAM, which has been fighting for an independent Muslim sultante of Aceh for 25 years, insisted on seeking independence.

A new round of peace talks between the government and GAM began at a secret near the Swiss city of Geneva on Monday amid a media blackout. But many have expressed pessimism about the outcome of the negotiations, and even as the two sides met, violence continued on the ground.

A GAM spokesman, Ishak Daud, said a 36-year-old woman, Khadijah binti Latief, was killed and a man wounded on Monday afternoon by Indonesian security forces, who were launching an operation to hunt down rebels in the Glumpang Payong area of East Aceh.

"In addition to killing a civilian, the military and police also set fire to homes and shops belonging to the residents," Daud told AFP. Police spokesman Yatim Suyatno said he had no knowledge of the death and denied security forces had torched the houses.