Banda Aceh – Four people, including two rebels and a soldier, were killed in the latest violence in Indonesia's Aceh province as clashes continued between separatist rebels and government troops, a report said here Wednesday.

The two rebels were shot dead during an armed clash between separatists of the rebel Free Aceh Movement (GAM) and government forces in Tanah Jambo Aye in North Aceh on Tuesday, the Banda Aceh-based Serambi daily said.

The local GAM deputy commander, Sofyan Daud confirmed the casualties in the Lueng Angen clash, but said that five soldiers were also killed in the clash and in two other exchanges of fire in the same area on Tuesday. The local military commander could not be reached for confirmation.

In Pidie district, a soldier was shot dead while he was riding his motorcycle, Serambi said.

One army soldier was wounded when troops were ambushed in the Jaya district of West Aceh, the local military commander Colonel Endang Suwarya said. The local GAM commander, Abu Arafah, claimed that five soldiers were killed in the attack while another soldier was seriously injured by shrapnel. He also said that it was a military patrol that was ambushed.

Rebels also attacked a police post in Pantonlabu, but there were no casualties reported, North Aceh District Police Chief Adjunct Senior Commissioner Wanto Sumardi said. It was the second attack on the same post since Monday. The first attack also left no casualties.

A military post in Samalanga in the district of Bireun was also attacked on Tuesday without casualties. Four people on two motorcycles sped past the post, fired shots at it and threw a grenade, a resident said.

Meanwhile, a teenager was killed and three others were injured after they tampered with a grenade they had found in Ie Tarek Dua village in the North Aceh district of Kuta Makmur on Tuesday, their relatives said. The injured were all being treated at the general hospital in the district town of Lhokseumawe.

Violence has increased since Jakarta last month launched a military operation to rid the province of the rebels who have been fighting for a free Islamic nation in Aceh since the mid-1970s.

Jakarta has dispatched some 1,100 troops to Aceh to reinforce the operation. The crackdown followed a year of inconclusive talks held in Geneva and shaky ceasefires between the two sides, which failed to stem bloodshed that has left some 600 dead already this year.