Reuters in Jakarta – Three people have been killed and four wounded in a fresh bout of violence in Indonesia's restive Aceh province, showing the futility of a recently agreed ceasefire extension.

Police say a total of eight people have been killed since the truce was announced on Wednesday while rebel leaders put the figure as high as 30.

The latest clash occured on Friday at a Mobil Oil Indonesia complex – a subsidiary of Exxon-Mobil – in Lhokseumawe in the province's north. "Two soldiers were killed, and a 40-year-old woman also died in the incident," Aceh police spokesman Kusbini Imbar said on Saturday.

But a Free Aceh Movement (GAM) spokesman said 19 people were killed in the clash which flared because of intense police patrols in the area. "We heard about the sweeping patrols beforehand and warned the military and the Henry Dunant [Centre for Humanitarian Dialogue] about a possible clash," spokesman Amni Marzuki said.

The Henry Dunant centre is a Swiss advocacy group which hosted this week's peace talks between the government and Gam in Geneva.

The clash occured at the guard post leading to the natural gas complex and police said it did not affect the plant's operations.

Indonesian security forces and rebels have clashed in numerous incidents across the bloodied province this week, making a mockery of the ceasefire extension and efforts to reach a political settlement over the decades-long conflict.

The current six-month ceasefire expires on Monday but government representatives and GAM leaders agreed to extend the truce by one month. While both sides deemed the talks constructive, and a further meeting has been planned for February, it has not translated to peace on the ground.

The ceasefire first took effect on June 2 and has largely been ignored by both sides, heightening despair among Aceh's four million people.

Jakarta has firmly ruled out independence for the resource-rich and staunchly-Islamic province on the tip of Sumatra island but has instead offered special autonomy, due to take affect in May.

The announcement to extend the ceasefire came as a surprise, as both sides had expressed pessimism that much headway could be made.