BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (AFP) - Indonesian soldiers have killed six suspected rebels during two separate gunbattles in the troubled province of Aceh, the military said.
The latest deaths bring to 27 the number of alleged rebels killed since Saturday in Aceh, where troops have been battling separatist Free Aceh Movement guerrillas in a major offensive that began in May 2003.
Lieutenant Colonel Jamhur Ismail said the latest deaths came Monday when troops raided a rebel hideout near a river in South Aceh.
Ismail, the district commander, identified the dead as Zainal Abidin, 28, a rebel "police chief", and two of his men.
Aceh military spokesman Asep Sapari said troops also shot dead three suspected rebels during another clash in the north of the province on Monday.
Three rebels were captured, while a total of 16 rebels, among them six women, surrendered to military outposts in several areas across Aceh, Sapari said.
Security forces say more than 2,200 rebels have been killed since the military launched its major offensive last year. Rights groups say many of the dead are civilians.
Thousands of other rebel sympathisers have surrendered or been arrested.
On Monday the US-based Human Rights Watch accused Indonesian security forces of systematically torturing detainees and using the forced confessions as the basis for convictions which fail to meet international or Indonesian standards.
The security forces denied ill-treating detainees.
The rebels have been fighting for independence for the province on the western tip of Sumatra since 1976.