Banda Aceh – Two soldiers and one teacher were killed in the latest round of violence in Aceh, provincial military spokesman Maj. Zaenal Mutaqin said here on Tuesday.

Zaenal Mutaqin told AFP that First Lt. Dedi Hermansyah was shot dead in an ambush by rebels from the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in Jambo Aye, South Aceh district, on Monday afternoon. Hermansyah, who was struck in the temple, was in the lead truck of a three-truck convoy carrying 26 soldiers.

The soldier died at a private hospital in Medan, the capital of neighboring North Sumatra province where he had been evacuated, Mutaqin said. An Army private was also shot dead during an attack by GAM rebels on a military outpost in Bukit Gadeng, South Aceh, late on Monday evening, Mutaqin said.

The outpost, manned by 28 soldiers, was under attack for some 15 minutes before the rebels fled. Local GAM commander Abrar Muda claimed responsibility for both attacks and warned of more to come if the military continued to "oppress" the people of Aceh.

In a separate incident, two gunmen believed to be members of GAM shot dead a 50-year-old teacher in Gapui, Pidie district, on Monday, Mutaqin said. Two assailants riding aboard a motorcycle shot the victim in front of his home as he was leaving for school, he said.

Aceh has long been the scene of bloody violence involving government forces and armed rebels from GAM, which has been fighting since 1976 for an independent homeland.

More than 10,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed in the conflict, with rights activists estimating the death toll for this year alone at about 1,000.