Banda Aceh – At least five suspected members of the separatist Free Aceh Movement (GAM) were killed in the country's restive province of Aceh on Tuesday, the Indonesian Military (TNI) said.

The rebels were killed in separate gunfights in the districts of Bireuen, Pidie, and North Aceh, TNI spokesman Ahmad Yani Basuki said in Lhokseumawe on Wednesday.

"Five rebels were killed in a gunfight when Indonesian troops raided their hideouts in the three districts," Basuki said, adding that six other rebels were arrested on the same day.

During the raid, he said, the military also seized two bags of hashish, a Baretta revolver, a grenade and ammunition. The government claims that some 900 rebels have been killed since a major operation began on May 19 to crush the separatist movement, while more than 1,800 others have been arrested or have surrendered in the operation. There figures cannot be independently verified.