War in Indonesia's Aceh province will last until separatist rebels are rooted out, the military said. "What is clear, the operation to crush Aceh separatist rebels is not limited to six months. As long as those rebels still exist, they will have to be rooted out," Aceh military commander Major General Endang Suwarya was quoted by the official Antara news agency as saying.

The government imposed martial law in Aceh and launched a major military campaign to crush the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) on May 19 after peace talks broke down. The martial law was to be in force for six months but the government has said it can be extended.

The military said Saturday that troops had killed 531 rebels and seized 255 weapons since the operation began, while more than 1,277 rebels had been captured or surrendered.

An international thinktank, in a report Wednesday, said the military assault was only alienating Acehnese and fuelling support for GAM. The International Crisis Group also questioned military figures for rebel dead, saying there was no way to verify whether these were really guerrillas.