'Aceh rebels may be behind tugboat attack'<\/p>\n
Agence France-Presse, Kuala Lumpur\/Tokyo<\/p>\n
Indonesian separatist rebels may have carried out the armed
\nattack on a Japanese tugboat in the Malacca Strait and the
\nkidnapping of three crewmen, Malaysia's marine police said on
\nWednesday.<\/p>\n
\"The pirates are from Indonesia. They may be GAM rebels. I
\nwill not rule it out,\" Mokhtar Othman, operations officer for
\nMalaysia's northern region marine police, told AFP.<\/p>\n
Mokhtar said the fact the pirates were well armed and \"had
\nsomething like a rocket launcher\" pointed to the involvement of
\nFree Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels, who since 1976 have been waging
\na revolt in the north of Sumatra island.<\/p>\n
Marine police commander Abdul Rahman Ahmad, quoted by the
\nnational news agency Bernama, said the pirates are believed to
\nhave crossed over into Indonesian waters and to be hiding out on
\nan island off north Sumatra.<\/p>\n
\"The victims have been taken across (to Indonesia) and we
\nbelieve they are hiding on an island over there,\" he said.<\/p>\n
GAM spokesman Sofyan Daud denied the rebels were behind the
\nattack, saying they had never been involved in piracy in the
\nMalacca Strait. \"We are freedom fighters, not pirates,\" he told
\nAFP by telephone.<\/p>\n
The London-based International Maritime Bureau (IMB) has in
\nthe past suggested that GAM rebels could be involved in piracy
\nand warned ships to stay clear of Aceh's coast.<\/p>\n
The Japanese tugboat was on its way from Indonesia's Batam
\nisland to Myanmar on Monday when the pirates kidnapped 56-year-
\nold captain Nobuo Inoue, 50-year-old chief engineer Shunji Kuroda
\nand a Filipino crewman identified by Manila as Sangdang Paliawan,
\n31.<\/p>\n
The tug with its 11 remaining crewmen and the 154 workers on
\nthe construction barge it was towing were escorted to Malaysia's
\nPenang island by marine police.<\/p>\n
Mokhtar said the crew, the tugboat and barge would be released
\nin the next few days when investigations were completed.<\/p>\n
The pirates, who are suspected of planning to make a ransom
\ndemand, had not yet communicated with the Japanese ship owners,
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
The tugboat is owned by a Japanese company, Kondo Kaiji, while
\nthe barge is owned by Nippon Steel.<\/p>\n
Matsuzaki Tetsuhiko, a Nippon Steel executive director based
\nin Malaysia, told AFP in response to a question about possible
\nransom negotiations: \"The pirates have taken the ship's documents
\nand hence I believe they know the telephone numbers,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Tetsuhiko added that Malaysia had agreed to provide security
\nwithin its waters for the tug and barge when they resume their
\njourney to Myanmar.<\/p>\n
Capt. Pottengal Mukundan, director of the IMB, said in a
\nstatement: \"The recent upsurge of violence against vessels in the
\nMalacca Strait is a matter of great concern.\"<\/p>\n
The narrow 960-kilometer-long Malacca Strait, bordered by
\nMalaysia, Singapore and Indonesia, is used by about 50,000 ships
\na year carrying a third of world trade and half its oil supplies.<\/p>\n
The IMB's Piracy Reporting Center, in its report for last
\nyear, noted that since late 2003 there had been a steady increase
\nin attacks and kidnappings in the strait and along the Aceh
\ncoast.<\/p>\n
It said Indonesia accounted for the world's highest number of
\npirate attacks or attempted attacks with 93 incidents, and 37
\nmore occurred in the strait.<\/p>\n
In Tokyo, the Asahi Shimbun reported on Wednesday the Japanese
\ngovernment planned to give Indonesia two or three unarmed, 20-
\nmeter long vessels as grant aid in 2006 or later to fight piracy
\nin Malacca Strait.<\/p>\n
Japan plans to donate the medium-size ships partly due to
\nfears that large vessels could be used by the Indonesian
\ngovernment to crack down on rebels, the newspaper said without
\nciting sources.<\/p>",
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