JAKARTA - Indonesia's top security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono today urged Malaysia to reject asylum seekers from Indonesia's conflict-hit Aceh province.

As Indonesia's "close friend" Malaysia had shown a very clear stance in supporting Indonesia's territorial integrity, Yudhoyono said.

"This means they are not supporting the armed separatist movement in Aceh," the minister told reporters at the State Palace.

A total of 232 Acehnese, including women and children, were detained last Tuesday as they tried to seek asylum outside the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) office in Kuala Lumpur.

In Kuala Lumpur, Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar rejected the UNHCR's criticism over the arrest, saying that "it is not right for UNHCR to register the Acehnese as possible refugees when they are not refugees."

Yudhoyono said he hoped President Megawati Sukarnoputri will raise the issue with Prime Minister Dr Mahathir Mohamad during her visit to the Malaysian town of Kuching on Thursday.

Meanwhile violence continues to take place in the province as the military offensive against GAM approaches its 100th day.

Fighting for independence

Soldiers had killed a total of 10 rebels since Saturday, said military spokesman Ahmad Yani Basuki.

The government launched a massive operation to crush the guerrillas May 19.

More than 700 rebels have been killed and more than 1,500 have been arrested or have surrendered since then, according to the government, which says 13 police and 45 soldiers have died.

Human rights activists and other groups have questioned whether the military figures for rebel deaths also include civilians.

An estimated 30,000 troops and 10,000 police are battling the GAM, originally estimated as having 5,000 members.

The rebel movement has been fighting for the independence of the northern energy-rich Aceh province on Sumatra island since 1976. - AFP