Jakarta – In an outbreak of violence likely to raise concerns about the peace process in troubled Aceh province, security forces said on Friday they killed five rebels in two separate incidents.

Police shot three fighters from the separatist Free Aceh Movement on Thursday after they allegedly ambushed a security patrol, Lt. Col. Maryanto said. Officers found two pistols on the dead men, said Maryanto was quoted by Associated Press as saying.

Rebel spokesman Dhea Murthila acknowledged the guerrillas were killed, but accused the military of opening fire on them.

Two other insurgents were killed late Tuesday in a fire fight in the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, police there said. Rebels accused security forces of arresting and executing the men.

In recent weeks, the government and rebels have repeatedly accused the other of not abiding by the terms of the peace deal, signed December 9 in Geneva.

Violence in the province has dropped dramatically since the accord, but several key issues, including rebel disarmament and the relocation of military troops to defensive positions, have yet to beresolved.

Insurgents have been fighting since 1976 for an independent state in oil and gas-rich Aceh, 1,770 kilometers northwest of Jakarta. The conflict has killed about 12,000 people in the past decade.