Indonesia steps up Aceh assault

There are already 28,000 Indonesian soldiers in Aceh

Indonesia is intensifying its military operations against separatist rebels in the northern province of Aceh, with army commanders reportedly ordering troops to shoot arsonists on sight.

The move follows a spate of school burnings, which the military and the rebels have blamed on each other.

The military is reported to believe that the arson attacks are an attempt to divert soldiers from combat operations.

The BBC's Rachel Harvey says the army is determined to crush the rebels, amid evidence that supplies of food and fuel are running low in many areas.

Travelling on what was a major supply route into the provincial capital, Banda Aceh, she says Indonesian troops are using chainsaws to remove tree trunks blocking the road.

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

She reports seeing burned out vehicles, including a bus and trucks carrying fruit and vegetables, and says public transport has come to a halt.

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

Thousands of people have fled their homes.

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, ending a five-month-old peace deal that had raised hopes of a permanent resolution to the 26 year conflict.

The military said on Thursday it had killed 22 rebels in the past three days, while the rebels said they had only lost two men, and accused the army of killing up to 50 civilians - some of them farmers in paddy fields.

Army officials say one soldier has been killed and several wounded.

Martial law

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

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.

Military forces in Aceh

Gam fighters: 5,000

Indonesian troops: 28,000

Indonesian regular police: 8,000

Indonesian paramilitary police: 2,000

Eyewitnesses in the village of Mapa Mamplam said they had been lined up and executed by the armed forces.

"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 told foreign officials that Indonesia's territorial integrity was at stake in Aceh.

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

Emergency schooling

Since the offensive began, nearly 290 schools have reportedly been burnt down in the province, mostly in Pidie and Bireun.

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 past 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.