Banda Aceh – Indonesia's Red Cross said on Wednesday it had taken 151 bodies to hospitals and morgues in Aceh since a fresh military offensive against rebels began, adding all victims had been wearing civilian clothes.

But Iyang Sukandar, secretary-general of the Indonesian Red Cross, told Reuters this did not mean the dead were civilians. The Red Cross has said it was not its job to determine the identity of those killed in the offensive, now into its fourth week.

"The latest figure that I received was on Saturday. It was 151 casualties," Sukandar said by telephone, adding more updated figures were not available because of communications problems. He said the bodies were only those removed by the Red Cross.

Sukandar declined to say if all 151 had been killed in conflict zones in the province on the northern tip of Sumatra island, although evacuating bodies from the battlefield had been one of their prime responsibilities since fighting erupted. "Their identities were not clear, all of them wore civilian clothing. But if I have to say that they were civilians, then I'm not sure," Sukandar said.