12 rebels 'killed in Aceh'

Government troops in Indonesia have shot and killed 12 suspected rebels and arrested eight others in the escalating war in Aceh province.

Lt. Col. Ahmad Yani Basuki said the fighting took place in the jungle around the oil and gas-rich town of Lhokseumawe, where US energy giant ExxonMobil operates a natural-gas field.

Basuki said three of the rebels - including an 18-year-old woman - were shot to death while fleeing from a military detention centre on Thursday.

He said warning shots were fired, but the suspects didn't stop.

Basuki's claim could not be verified independently, and representatives of the Free Aceh Movement could not be reached for comment.

The army says more than 800 suspected rebels have been killed and about 1,400 others captured since Jakarta launched an all-out offensive against the insurgents on May 19.

The separatists say they have suffered only light casualties and that most of the victims have been villagers caught up in the army's search-and-destroy operations.

Their claim has been backed by international human rights groups, which accuse the military of committing atrocities in Aceh.

The insurgents have been fighting since 1976 for an independent homeland in the province on the northern tip of Sumatra island. In the past decade, about 12,000 people have died, mostly civilians.