Banda Aceh – At least seven people were killed in Aceh on Tuesday and Wednesday, three were military personnel and four others were Free Aceh Movement (GAM) separatist rebels, officials and witnesses said on Thursday. The incidents took place in three different sites in West Aceh, Aceh Besar and East Aceh.

Meanwhile on Thursday, two more bodies bearing gunshot wounds were found in South Aceh and North Aceh, said Indonesian Red Cross (PMI) activist Alimuddin.

The latest took place in the village of Panton, Teunom district, West Aceh, some 150 kilometers from Banda Aceh. The casualties were Pvt. Arinto and Pvt. Saiful Anwar from the Army's special force (Kopassus). Their patrol group was intercepted by GAM rebels. A GAM member, M. Yunus, also died in the ensuing gunfight, Army Spokesman Maj. Zainal Mutaqin said.

Also in West Aceh, in the village of Blang Luah in Woyla district, security forces shot dead a GAM member, Nur Abidin, on Tuesday for resisting arrest, after officers caught him extorting money from locals.

On Wednesday, in the village of Panca, Seulimum district, Aceh Besar – about 50 kilometers north of Banda Aceh – the military raided a GAM base, killing two rebels. The victims, identified as Arman and Anton, were carrying revolvers, which along with ammunition were seized as evidence.

Meanwhile, chief of Simpang Mulieng Military Subdistrict Lt. Sugianto was also shot dead in an armed skirmish in the village of Kuta Lawah, Idi district, in East Aceh on Tuesday.

He was traveling in a bus bound for Banda Aceh from Medan when a group of GAM rebels stopped the bus and searched it. He was shot dead by the rebels after his identity as a military man was discovered.