Troops clash with Indonesian police

The army has been accused of abuses before

Four Indonesian policemen have been shot dead by troops in a fierce battle at a police station on the island of Sumatra.

The fighting lasted for several hours into Monday morning. More than 100 soldiers were reported to have attacked the police post with machetes, rifles and grenades.

A police spokesman said the soldiers attacked after a police officer arrested a soldier accused of selling drugs.

Police spokesman Amrin Karim said 61 people who had been under detention in the police station escaped during the fight, which took place near the city of Medan, 1,350 kilometres (840 miles) north-west of the capital Jakarta.

"This is not the first time that soldiers have attacked the police. Last time it was over a soldier's arrest for gambling," he said.

He told Reuters news agency that most of the dead had been shot in the chest.

Another 24 policemen and soldiers had been left injured by the fighting.

The Indonesian army, the country's most powerful institution, has been regularly accused of human rights abuses and indiscipline.

Relations with the police have been particularly tense in some parts of Indonesia since the police, who used to come under the military's command, were given new powers.

The latest violence will be used by critics of the military as further proof it is being too slow to reform.

The military was widely blamed for being behind violence in the former Indonesian province of East Timor in 1999.

The fighting, which left at least 1,000 people dead, led to a US ban on weapons sales and direct military assistance to Indonesia.