JAKARTA, March 30 (Reuters) - Two human rights activists and their driver were shot dead in Aceh in an attack that suggests humanitarian workers were being targeted by Indonesian security forces in the rebellious province, a rights group said on Friday.
Police confirmed the killings, but said they suspected rebels of the Free Aceh Movement (GAM) were responsible.
The New York-based Human Rights Watch said the three were killed soon after leaving South Aceh police station on Thursday, where one of the men, Teungku Kamal, had been summoned to answer questions over a defamation case involving police.
Acehnese rights activists said Kamal was attached to the Henry Dunant Centre in Switzerland, an advocacy group which has hosted talks between the government and rebels that led to a series of now frayed ceasefires.
Human Rights Watch said in a statement that Kamal was part of a team monitoring efforts to end decades of bloodshed in the province on the tip of Sumatra island.
It was unclear who was responsible for the murders but the statement noted the police and military had been implicated in previous attacks on right activists and humanitarian workers in Aceh.
"The military has made it clear for some time that they want the dialogue stopped and killing members of the monitoring team is one way to do that," Human Rights Watch said.
Apart from Kamal, the other men killed were Suprin Sulaiman, a human rights lawyer and driver Amiruddin.
Late last year, three Indonesian humanitarian volunteers attached to a Danish-sponsored rights group were tortured and shot dead in Aceh. Rights groups accused plainclothes security forces of those killings. Police denied the charges.
Independence demands have simmered for decades in Aceh, where the military has waged war against rebels and the central government has exploited the province's natural resources, including its reserves of oil and gas.
Indonesia's defence minister said earlier this week the government would soon launch a planned operation to quell mounting violence in the province. The military has been saying it would embark on what it calls a limited operation.
The fresh killings occured on the same day an Acehnese activist appealed a court's decision to jail him for 10 months for spreading hate against the government under subversion laws not used since former President Suharto was in power.