Four separatist rebels including a suspected senior figure have been killed in Indonesia's Aceh province, the army said, as a military campaign to crush the guerrillas entered its fourth month.
Troops shot dead three of the suspected members of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) on the outskirts of Lhokseumawe town on Monday, said military spokesman Ahmad Yani Basuki.
"The probability is that one of the victims held an important post in the GAM structure or has close ties with the leaders of GAM," Basuki said. He said a list of phone numbers of GAM leaders was found in his pocket.
Soldiers killed another rebel during a raid in the Susoh area of southwest Aceh on Monday, said local military commander Captain Syahrial. The victim was said to have been seeking medical treatment for a gunshot wound to his arm.
A primary school principal was found dead with gunshot wounds at Sakti in Pidie district on Monday, said district military chief Lieutenant Colonel Abdurrohim Siregar. He had been abducted by GAM guerrillas a day earlier on his way home from attending an Indonesian independence day ceremeony in Sigli, Siregar said.
Residents of Idi Rayeuk in East Aceh said seven civilians were injured by two blasts there late Sunday. Attackers had fired grenades through a launcher at an area where a crowd was watching an independence day display.
The military says 704 guerrillas have been killed and more than 1,500 others have been arrested or surrendered since the operation was launched on May 19. The military has lost 45 soldiers and the police 13 men.
The International Crisis Group, a Brussels-based think tank, has questioned military figures for rebel dead. It says there is no way to verify whether all of these were really guerrillas or whether some were civilians.
GAM has been fighting for independence since 1976 and more than 10,000 people, mostly civilians, have died since then.
Indonesia has set no timeframe for its latest assault, involving at least 30,000 soldiers and 10,000 troops. It initially put the province in Sumatra island under martial law for six months from May 19 but has said this could be extended.