LHOKSEUMAWE, Indonesia, May 24 (IslamOnline.net & News Agencies) - The Indonesian military said Saturday, May 24, it is investigating reports that its soldiers had killed civilians during an operation to crush separatists in Aceh province.

Lieutenant Colonel Yani Basuki, spokesman for the six-day-old operation, told reporters the probe was sparked by media reports of killings in a cluster of villages near Bireuen town, reported Agence France-Presse (AFP).

"At this moment, today, we are launching an investigation," Basuki said during a news conference.

"This is a response to media reactions which made it seem as if they were civilians. And we don't close the possibility that if our frontline troops made a mistake and gave false reports, just wait. They will be brought to the military justice system," he added.

At the same time, he warned that if the investigation shows the media reports were not true and based on unclear sources "then the martial law legal process will be put into effect according to the authority it has."

Aceh has been under martial law since Monday, May 19.

"We aren't fooling around. TNI (Indonesian Armed Forces) has a commitment: it has come to Aceh for the Acehnese people," Basuki claimed.

He said that 52 separatists have been killed so far in the fighting, with the loss of one soldier and one policeman during combat. Another soldier died in an accident.

In a statement received by AFP in Jakarta, Free Aceh Movement (GAM) chief spokesman Sofyan Daud said that more than 30 people had been killed in Bukit Sudan village near Bireuen town.

In Alue Gelumpang village, a young man, Marsuni, 23, was barely able to move Saturday following the beating he said Indonesian marines had given him during their search for Aceh separatists.

Denying he had ties to GAM, Marsuni told AFP six others were also beaten and Husainy, his friend since junior high school, was shot dead in front of him.

The BBC News Online further said Saturday that eleven people were killed by Indonesian troops in just one village.

It added that civilians were caught in the middle of what was becoming a very messy conflict.

One woman said she had not heard from her brothers for days, and another man described how he was woken in the night by armed soldiers and questioned about the separatists.

On Wednesday, May 21, AFP quoted residents in Matamaplam village as saying troops had shot dead six teenage boys and a 12-year-old. The sister of one victim said he was mentally unstable.

In another area village, Cot Batee, an AFP correspondent saw the bodies of six men who residents said were farmers.

One resident denied the victims, two of them appeared to have been shot through the eye, were GAM members.

According to eyewitnesses, one of the separatists detained on Nasi island, Teungku Hasan, 35, was flown by helicopter to the Acehnese capital, Banda Aceh, with his hands and feet tied, his face bruised, after being arrested mid-morning.

Martial law administrator Endang Suwarya claimed that because separatists had regularly confiscated the ID cards of residents in several Aceh districts to make it hard for security forces to distinguish between ordinary civilians and separatists, new cards would be issued to prevent separatists from joining the population.

The United Nations has warned of a looming humanitarian crisis, saying tens of thousands of people, many of them children, have been displaced and basic health services have collapsed.

The U.N. children's fund, UNICEF’s, is flying out 20 tonnes of basic health equipment on Sunday, May 25, enough to meet the needs of 200,000 people for three months.

The organization is also concerned that 60,000 children are being deprived of an education following the burning and destruction of more than 280 schools, which separatists and government forces have blamed on each other, the BBC added.

The Indonesian authorities, however, have disputed UNICEF’s estimate that tens of thousands of people have been displaced by the conflict.

Aceh deputy governor Aswar Abubakar said that so far 23,000 refugees had fled their homes.

The breakdown of talks ended a five-month-old ceasefire that had raised hopes of a permanent resolution to the 26-year conflict.