Jakarta – The Indonesian Military (TNI) is ready to punish soldiers found to have tortured detained members of the Aceh separatist movement to extract information, its spokesman, Lt Col Ahmad Yani Basuki, said here on Tuesday.

A recent report by Human Rights Watch said 24 of 35 detained Free Aceh Movement rebels claimed to have been tortured by soldiers or police to obtain information. Yani said his the military would check the report first before sanctioning any erring soldiers.

The government has stationed troops in Aceh to crush the secessionist movement, which has for decades been trying to form an independent sultanate within the oil-rich but underdeveloped province. Yani said the TNI had no objections to the United Nations or other institutions studying the report.

"We have allowed domestic and international humanitarian organizations and other institutions to visit Aceh," he said.