Banda Aceh – At least two civilians and two suspected guerillas were killed in the latest violence to hit Aceh, residents and the military said yesterday.

But in Jakarta, the authorities and parliament have not yet reached the conclusion that a state of emergency is needed in Aceh.

The Free Aceh Movement (GAM) has been fighting since 1976 for an independent state in the province. An estimated 10,000 people have been killed since then, 600 of them this year alone. Jakarta has branded the GAM as terrorists.

On Friday, residents in Kandang, North Aceh district, said two unidentified men on a motorcycle shot dead two youths at a roadside coffee stall.

Troops killed two suspected GAM members in a clash in Kampung Paya Biek in East Aceh district, also on Friday, Aceh military spokesman Major Zaenal Muttaqin said. Two AK rifles and ammunition were recovered, he added.

Meanwhile, Jakarta-appointed Aceh governor Abdullah Puteh pledged to prioritise dialogue to settle the conflict here as the central government appeared to harden its stance against the separatists in the resource-rich province.

"In the next 10 days, I will sit with the parliamentarians, the heads of the provincial police and military, with student leaders, non-governmental organisations and religious leaders to talk about it," he said, commenting on the possibility of the imposition of a state of emergency.

Meanwhile, in Jakarta, a leading parliamentarian said the lower house, the People's Representatives Council, had agreed to back "whatever strong stance" the military commander and the national police chief took to combat separatism in Aceh.

"We are all in agreement to exert pressure against separatism because it clearly disturbs the unitary state of the Republic of Indonesia," Mr Ibrahim Ambong, an MP from the Golkar party who heads the parliamentary commission on security, politics and foreign affairs, told the Antara news agency.