Banda Aceh – Indonesian troops hunting separatist rebels in the restive province of Aceh mistakenly shot dead a teenager and wounded his younger brother, the victims' mother said yesterday.

Mrs Darwati, from Leubu Lapehan in Bireuen district, said her oldest son Muntasir, 17, was shot dead by troops on Wednesday and a younger son, Harmadi, 14, was wounded.

The 40-year-old said she, her husband Suleiman, 60, and their three sons were at their wood and bamboo hut when some 20 soldiers encircled the house and began firing shots.

The soldiers shouted to them to leave the house. They came out and lay on the ground, Mrs Darwati said. More shots were fired, only halting after she shouted that her son Harmadi was wounded.

They discovered later that Muntasir was killed by a bullet that hit him in the back. "I do not know who shot them, there were only TNI [Indonesian armed forces] personnel there," Mrs Darwati said.

The soldiers took the two boys to hospital and later transferred the injured teenager to the provincial capital, Banda Aceh.

"They said that they had been looking for a vacant house which actually lies at the back of my own house, because they said there were GAM [Free Aceh Movement] members hiding there," Mrs Darwati said.

However, Aceh's military spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Ahmad Yani Basuki, said in a statement that the only deaths in Bireuen on Wednesday were those of two suspected rebels, aged 18 and 19, who were shot during a clash. He added that one rebel also surrendered to the authorities in Pidie on Tuesday.

The GAM has been fighting for independence since 1976. In May, the government launched an offensive to rid the province of the separatist group.