Jakarta – Amnesty International said on Tuesday that Indonesian troops had reportedly tortured villagers and torched homes during a hunt for separatist rebels in Papua province.

The rights group said in a statement that a human rights activist who was briefly detained at Jayawijaya Military District Command in the town of Wamena on April 12 reported seeing at least 20 people in detention.

"Many of the detainees were reportedly injured as a result of being tortured," the London-based group said as quoted by AFP.

It said two of the group were arrested in the nearby village of Ilekma earlier that day during an army search for suspected members of the Free Papua Movement (OPM) seperatist group.

"A number of other people were beaten, houses broken into and possessions stolen. Nine houses were also burnt down," Amnesty said. "According to local human rights monitors, Ilekma was targeted on the basis of information extracted under torture from detainees in [the district military command]."

Amnesty urged supporters to write to Indonesian military chiefs and embassies expressing concern for the safety of the detainees and appealing for an end to torture.