An Indonesian independent rights watchdog has found evidence that the country's police and military were involved in gross human rights abuses in the troubled eastern province of Papua, a report said.

The National Commission on Human Rights said its investigations pointed to abuses during two outbreaks of violence over the past three years in the province, where rebels have been waging a low-level independence campaign.

"The conclusion ... is that gross violations of human rights occurred," Sa'afrudin Bahar, who chairs a commission team probing two bloody incidents in Papua in 2001 and 2003.

Bahar said the probes showed that "rights abuses were committed by military and police personnel," according to the Jakarta Post. He declined further details.

Bahar, who could not be immediately reached for comment, said the reports were to be discussed by the commission this week before being submitted to the attorney general's office. Staff at the commission declined comment when contacted Monday.

At least seven people were killed, 48 tortured and some 7,000 forced to flee their villages following military and police operations in Papua between April and June 2003 to hunt down separatist rebels, the Post said.

In 2001, three villagers were killed, 16 tortured and dozens of houses torched when police raided a village following the killings by separatist rebels of six paramilitary police members in June that year.

The Free Papua Organisation has been fighting a sporadic and low-level guerrilla war since 1963 when Indonesia took over the huge mountainous and undeveloped territory from Dutch colonisers.

Under Indonesian law, the findings of the commission can be admitted as evidence in trials held by an ad hoc human rights court.