The Indonesian military's attempts to stop reporters quoting rebel statements in Aceh province put journalists covering the war there "at grave risk", a New York-based journalists' organisation said Saturday.

"The Committee to Protect Journalists (CPJ) is alarmed by the efforts of Indonesian military authorities in Aceh to control press coverage of the conflict there," CPJ executive director Ann Cooper said in a letter Saturday to President Megawati Sukarnoputri. "The policies ... put journalists covering the conflict at grave risk," she said.

The CPJ urged Megawati "to direct military authorities in Aceh to respect press freedom and immediately cease all efforts to curb the media." Martial law administrator in Aceh Major General Endang Suwarya announced the planned curbs on Tuesday, a day after the military launched a major military assault to try to wipe out rebels.

"We will bring a halt to the news from the spokesmen of GAM [Free Aceh Movement] because they are turning the facts upside down," he said. He said journalists were free to correct the actions of security personnel "but there should be no reports from GAM and reports that praise GAM." Suwarya said rules on press coverage would soon be issued and journalists would have to be accredited with the military command in Aceh. The military has "embedded" some local reporters with combat units.

The armed forces spokesman in Jakarta, Syafrie Syamsuddin, said Friday the military would take legal action against media which carried reports about military excesses which proved to be false.

The Indonesian Alliance of Independent Journalists has protested the curbs, saying reporters need to cover both sides of the story. GAM officials and spokesmen have previously been freely quoted by the local press.

CPJ said military officials have issued warnings to the Aceh-based daily Serambi Indonesia and a private broadcaster for carrying reports considered to favor GAM.

A local radio station, Nikoya FM, received a call from someone claiming to be a GAM commander, threatening that the rebels would kill a reporter if the station did not start carrying more balanced news, the CPJ said.