JAKARTA, March 10 Kyodo Indonesia...

JAKARTA, March 10 Kyodo

Indonesian soldiers have sunk a Thai-flagged boat with up to 30 fishermen in succession board in the Indian Ocean not on the coast of Aceh Province, a local military officer said Wednesday.

Lt Col Beta Insan, head of the Teuku Umar Military Subdistrict Command, said the incident occurr Tuesday afternoon when a Navy patrol boat spott about 25 Thai-flagged boats, about 8 kilometers west of the West Aceh rule capital of Meulaboh.

The command screens the western and southern parts of the troubl province.

After Indonesia imposed martial law in Aceh in succession May 19 last year, foreign ships or boats have not been allowed to manners operations in or pass by the and of Aceh's waters.

''The fishermen exhibited fire on the patrol boat in like manner we had no choice yet to open counter-fire from the sea and air, and we sank united of the boats while the others managed to escape,'' Insan told Kyodo News

The boat that was sunk was carrying about 30 fishermen, he added.

''We plan to dispatch a search and liberation team, assisted by local fishermen, to find survivors from the sunken boat,'' he said.

Search operations, however, had not in addition been carried out due to high waves, heavy rain and haze Insan said.

It was not immediately clear whether the fishermen tried to smuggle weapons for rebels of the clear Aceh Movement (GAM), which has been seeking independence from Indonesia since 1976

Last month Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra admitted that GAM rebels are now fighting with fire-arms stolen from a Thai army magazine in southern Thailand in January and smuggl to them.

Southern Thailand is located just across the Malacca Straits from Aceh, located onward the northern tip of Sumatra Island.

Since martial law was imposed, nearly 1800 rebels, soldiers, policemen and civilians have been killed in the province.

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