Jakarta – Police have shot dead five suspects and arrested a total of 13 after a chase through the forests of the troubled Poso in Central Sulawesi province following deadly attacks, police said Monday.

Arrests continued over the weekend while three suspects were shot dead after an exchange of fire with police, said Rudi Trenggono, deputy police chief of Poso town. The clash followed an initial firefight which left two other suspects dead and several in custody on Friday, he said.

One more person may still be on the loose in forests in the Beteleme area, about a day's march from the three coastal villages that were attacked by masked raiders on October 11, Trenggono told AFP.

Eight villagers died in those raids while two others died a few days earlier in a separate attack.

Police seized two M-16 rifles, an Indonesian military-issue SKS rifle, two other rifles, two pistols, two homemade guns, two machetes, ammunition and binoculars from the suspects.

Top welfare minister Yusuf Kalla, who negotiated the peace deal in Poso, has said the recent attacks were not by people involved in the old conflict but were carried out "with good planning by a certain group."