Jakarta – Aceh separatist rebels accused Indonesian authorities of tracking their slain military commander by inserting a microchip into an invitation letter for peace talks.

The Swedish-exiled leadership of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) said in a statement the microchip was embedded in an envelope containing the invitation from Aceh provincial governor Abdullah Puteh to Abdullah Syafii.

Syafii, his wife and five other rebels were shot dead Tuesday when soldiers raided an isolated jungle hideout at Jiem Jiem in the northern district of Pidie.

"The invitation for dialogue from Abdullah Puteh is some kind of trick and means to kill," said the statement from the rebels' military spokesman in Sweden, Sofyan Dawod. Authorities could not immediately be reached for comment on the claim. Puteh said Tuesday he sent Syafii an invitation for talks via a courier.

Dawod said one of Syafii's bodyguards escaped the raid with several important documents. "After the letter was examined by [our] intelligence, something like a microchip was found in the corner of the thick envelope," he said.

The Aceh military spokesman, Zaenal Muttaqin, has said troops watched the hideout following tips from local residents that GAM members often visited it. The military said troops called on nine people seen entering the hideout to surrender but were shot at. During a 20-minute shootout seven of the rebels were killed while two escaped.

Muttaqin said troops found ammunition, a satellite handphone believed to have belonged to Syafii and a letter from a GAM "minister", Malik Mahmud, who is exiled in Sweden. The letter ordered Syafii to form a new top-level military staff, Muttaqin said.

Syafii, 54, his wife Fatimah alias Aisyah and five bodyguards were killed. The commander's body was identified Wednesday. In the statement Dawod also confirmed that Syafii's deputy commander, Muzakir Manaf, has been appointed to replace him "until further notice."

GAM had already rejected Puteh's apparent peace overture, saying it would only talk to the national leadership. Jakarta has said negotiations should be conducted at provincial level.

The intractable 25-year-old revolt has claimed an estimated 10,000 lives. In just the first three weeks of this year, 123 people – many of them civilians – have died in the battle for an independent Islamic state in the oil and gas-rich province on the northern tip of Sumatra island.

Jakarta has held talks in Switzerland with GAM's exiled leadership over the last few years but ceasefires have always broken down.

The government last year passed a law granting Aceh greater self-rule and a much larger share of oil and gas revenue. It also allowed the staunchly Muslim region to implement Islamic law. But rebels insist on nothing short of independence, a goal which the government has ruled out.

In a move likely to draw criticism from rights groups – who have accused both sides of atrocities – President Megawati Sukarnoputri has ordered the defence ministry and military chief to prepare for the revival of a separate military command for Aceh.

The plan to revive the command, disbanded in 1985, is opposed by rights activists and the people of Aceh, who said it would encourage a militaristic approach in solving problems.