Banda Aceh – At least 14 people were killed in a series of clashes between government forces and separatist rebels in Indonesia's restive province of Aceh, police and residents said Sunday.

Three suspected members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) were shot dead by police in Blang Krueng village in the Darussalam sub-district near this capital of Aceh late on Saturday, said Aceh Besar district Police Chief Adjutant Senior Commissioner Sayed Husaini.

The three were killed during an exchange of fire following a police raid on a house after a tip-off that rebels were holding a meeting there, Husaini said.

The local GAM commander, Ayah Muni, however denied the three dead victims were his men. "What happened is that security personnel were conducting a sweep in the Darussalam sub-district," Muni said, adding that the troops had simply shot villagers who were running away to avoid the sweep.

He added that six villagers had also been arrested by the security forces and their whereabouts remained unknown.

Meanwhile in East Aceh, a group of around 50 unidentified armed men on Saturday shot three civilians dead and critically wounded four others in Blang Simpo village, Peureulak sub-district, a rights activist said.

The victims were taken from their homes and herded together at an isolated spot where they were shot, said the activist, who declined to be named.

On Saturday, the general hospital in Langsa, the capital of East Aceh, received four bodies which had been found with gunshot wounds in the Sungai Raya area, also in Peureulak, hospital staff said.

In South Aceh, security forces conducting an operation to locate a reported GAM home base in Kluet Utara district, shot dead a youth, a pregnant woman and her two young children on Saturday, a local journalist said,

The woman and her children were killed as troops fired a volley of shots as they entered a village while the youth was shot as he tried to run away to avoid the soldiers, the journalist said quoting local residents.

The operation was launched after a police post in the same subdistrict was attacked by armed gunmen on Thursday, South Aceh Police Chief Adjutant Commissioner Agus Mandarwanto said. But he said he had yet to receive a report on any fatalities in the operation.

Indonesia has recently announced plans to mount "limited security operations" to rid Aceh of the GAM, which has been fighting for a free Islamic state in the province since the mid-1970s.

The government and rebels have held peace talks and signed a series of ceasefire agreements. But they have so far failed to stem violence which has left some 300 people dead this year.