Nine suspected separatist rebels and two civilians have been killed in Indonesia's Aceh province during the fourth month of an operation to crush the guerrillas, police and the military said.

More than 30 members of the police paramilitary unit shot dead a member of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) during a raid Thursday in the Mancang Puntong area of North Aceh, said police spokesman Sayed Husainy on Friday. Soldiers patrolling the Indra Damai area of South Aceh on the same day shot dead four rebels during a 30-minute gunfight, said military spokesman Ahmad Yani Basuki.

Also on Thursday security forces shot dead three rebels in two separate incidents in North Aceh district, Basuki said. Soldiers also killed a rebel in Singkil district.

The spokesman accused GAM of killing two civilians in Central Aceh district and in Pidie district on the same day. He said rebels had also kidnapped four men who were travelling in a car in East Aceh. GAM could not be immediately reached for comment.

Basuki said troops in South Aceh arrested three suspected rebels during raids in South Aceh and in the outskirts of Banda Aceh on Thursday.

The government on May 19 launched a massive military operation to crush the guerrillas, who have been fighting since 1976 for independence for the energy-rich province on Sumatra island.

As of Thursday, Basuki said 765 rebels have been killed and more than 1,700 have been arrested or have surrendered since May 19. Thirteen police and 46 soldiers have died. Troops have seized 340 firearms from the rebels, he said.

Human rights activists and other groups have questioned whether the military figure for guerrilla deaths also includes civilians.