Banda Aceh – Fifteen people were killed or found dead in two days in Indonesia's troubled Aceh province, as rebels and the military traded accusations over the torching of scores of homes, authorities and residents said Thursday.

Seven of the deaths, including that of a soldier, occurred Thursday, the sources said. Private Agus Susanto was killed in a gunfight with rebels of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in Kuala subdistrict, West Aceh, Aceh military chief Colonel Endang Suwarya said. The troops were searching for GAM guerrillas when they were attacked, he said.

Police shot dead two suspected separatists who attacked them with grenades in the Juli Seutui area of Bireun district, local police chief Abdi Darmawan said. "We seized two pistols from the two men," Darmawan told AFP.

A resident in North Aceh's Neubok Rused village said soldiers killed three civilians who ran when they saw troops arriving in the area. Soldiers also killed another resident in a separate area in North Aceh, said the resident, who refused to give his name.

Also on Thursday, three bodies with torture marks and gunshot wounds were found in an area near Mount Selawah in Aceh Besar district, a Red Cross volunteer said.

On Wednesday, four men – three civilians and a GAM commander – were killed during a gunfight in the Manyak Payed district of East Aceh, said police spokesman Sudharsono. The dead commander was identified as 29-year-old Muslim, Commissioner Sudarsono said. The civilians were killed in cross-fire during the clash, he said.

A civilian suspected by the GAM of being an informant to Indonesian security forces was shot dead by gunmen in front of his house in the Nisam area of North Aceh late on Wednesday, Sudharsono added.

He also accused the GAM of torching about 30 houses in Manyak Payed on Wednesday, in addition to around 70 other houses and shops set ablaze in the area by rebels the previous day. But a local GAM spokesman denied his men were responsible for the fires. "What business would we have burning the houses of our own people?" Ishak Daud said.

The arson has forced 7,853 villagers to seek shelter at the main mosque in Manyak Payed, a humanitarian volunteer said. The police spokesman also accused the GAM of torching a government office in Peukan Bada sub-district near the provincial capital Banda Aceh on Wednesday evening.

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

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 more than 650 dead already this year.