Indonesian government troops killed 18 separatist rebels of Free Aceh Movement (GAM) in the latest clashes within one day in the country's westernmost province of Aceh, the military spokesman announced in Banda Aceh, the capital city of the province on Saturday.

These rebels were killed in four separate clashes on Friday, Aceh military spokesman Ari Mulya Asnawi said, who was quoted by the local news online as saying.

This might be the highest number of casualties suffered by the separatist GAM in a single day since the government launched a military operation to smash the movement in May 2003.

It was estimated that thousands of people have been killed since the GAM began its struggle for building an independent statein the region in 1976.

Source: Xinhua