Tensions rise in Aceh conflict

There are already 28,000 Indonesian soldiers in Aceh

The Indonesian army has vowed to "increase the pressure" on separatist guerrillas in the province of Aceh, amid reports of a rising death toll from the four-day-old offensive.

More than 300 military policemen and another 300 members of support units left for Aceh late on Wednesday, to join the 28,000 troops already stationed there the military said, according to the French news agency AFP.

Since the offensive began on Monday, rebel strongholds, especially in the northern districts of Bireun and Pidie, have seen almost daily gun battles.

The Free Aceh Movement (Gam) rebels have accused the military of targeting civilians, including children, in their operations in the north. The military has denied this.

The military crackdown in Aceh began after talks with rebel negotiators broke down, shattering a five-month-old peace deal that had raised hopes of ending 26 years of violence.

The military said on Thursday it had killed 22 rebels in the last three days, while the rebels said they had only lost two men, and accused the army of killing more than 20 civilians.

Army officials said they would step up air and land attacks, and consider imposing night curfews in the restless northern area of the province.

They also warned that they would shoot any arsonists responsible for further attacks on schools in the province.

ACEH PROVINCE

Located on the northern tip of Sumatra island

Population of 4.3m people

Rich fuel resources, including oil and natural gas

Home to conservative Islam - last year, Sharia law was introduced

Gam rebels are fighting for an independent state

Indonesia's flashpoints

Indonesian President Megawati Sukarnoputri has imposed martial law since the crackdown began, giving the military sweeping powers to make arrests, impose curfews and curb travel.

As has happened throughout the 26-year separatist struggle, Gam and government sources give widely different accounts of operations on the ground.

The BBC's Orlando de Guzman said that in one incident on Wednesday, at least eight villagers were shot dead in the eastern Bireun area.

He said he entered the village of Mapa Mamplam as Indonesian forces were leaving, and saw the bodies of four men with bullet wounds in the back of their heads.

Eyewitnesses said they, and about four others, had been lined up and shot by the armed forces.

Gam also said two 12-year-old boys had been killed by the security forces in a neighbouring village on Wednesday.

"It's basically a massacre against civilians," rebel spokesman Sofyan Dawood said on Thursday.

But military chief Endang Suwarya hit back, saying: "Absolutely no civilians were killed. We have a list of targets that we want killed or captured. We don't miss or make mistakes."

In Jakarta, Foreign Minister Hassan Wirajuda also went on the defensive on Thursday, in the face of mounting international pressure for the two sides to return to the negotiating table.

Mr Wirajuda told foreign officials that Indonesia's territorial integrity was at stake over the situation in Aceh.

"It is they (Gam) who speak the language of force and terror," he said.

Schools torched

Since the offensive began, more than 150 schools have been burnt down in the province, mostly in Pidie and Bireun.

Each side has blamed the other for the destruction.

Military forces in Aceh

Gam fighters: 5,000

Indonesian troops: 28,000

Indonesian regular police: 8,000

Indonesian paramilitary police: 2,000

Officials said the education of tens of thousands of children was being disrupted.

The United Nations has appealed to both sides to spare the schools, and said it would send 300 emergency school kits and 50 tents to the province.

Acehnese resentment against Jakarta's rule has been fuelled by abuses by the Indonesian military, and a feeling that the government is exploiting the region's resources.

The failed peace deal, signed in December, offered Aceh an autonomous government by 2004, which would have been allowed to keep 70% of the revenue generated from the province's rich oil reserves.