Banda Aceh – Eight more killings were reported Thursday in Indonesia's strife-torn Aceh province as residents said special prayers for peace on the eve of the Muslim Day of Sacrifice.

Some 1,000 people gathered outside Baiturrahman mosque in the provincial capital Banda Aceh after midday prayers and held a special mass prayer for "peace and the end of hatred among people in Aceh," witnesses said. The Jakarta-appointed governor, Abdullah Puteh, had urged people to pray for an end to the 26-year separatist conflict.

Three suspected separatist rebels were shot dead in a clash with soldiers at Bubon in West Aceh on Wednesday, said a provincial military spokesman, Major Ertoto. The local commander of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM), Abu Juana, denied any clash took place and said the three were civilians shot dead by troops during a search for guerrillas.

A rebel was shot dead when he and another suspect on a motorcycle encountered a military patrol at Krueng Seumideun in Pidie district on Wednesday, said the local military commander, Lieutenant Colonel Supartodi. The other man escaped.

The body of a man who had been shot in the head was found Wednesday at Lhokseumawe, a local humanitarian activist said. The local GAM spokesman, Teungku Jamaika, said the man had been shot by a member of the Brimob police elite unit as he was on his way home.

Jamaika said troops searching villages in the Tanah Pasir area of North Aceh shot dead one civilian while he was searching for crabs. He also said two civilians who had been arrested Wednesday morning were later the same day found dead nearby. There was no immediate confirmation of Jamaika's claims.

Some mosques and other places of worship in Banda Aceh ignored Puteh's appeal. "The mosques routinely hold prayers for peace after each of the day's five prayers anyway so it is not something new for Muslims here," a resident told

An estimated 10,000 people have been killed since the start of the revolt, including more than 200 this year alone.