Free Aceh Movement (GAM) rebels have attacked three boats over the past week in waters off Sumatra island, said a military spokesman, Lieutenant Colonel Erie Sutiko.

"The attackers told the sailors that they had illegally entered independent Acehnese territory," he told AFP.

Sutiko said rebels were holding the crew of the KM Mutiara in an unknown location after they attacked the boat on Monday. He did not say how many sailors were held.

On Sunday men armed with rifles and handguns boarded the Karya Laut sailing boat off East Aceh and stole its cargo, Sutiko said.

Nine armed men attacked the Putra Berombang on Monday and briefly held the boat's crew, he said.

The government and GAM signed a peace pact last month in Helsinki, with the rebels agreeing to drop demands for independence in return for limited self-rule.

The peace deal, spurred on due to the devastation wreaked by the tsunami, aims to end almost three decades of separatist conflict in resource-rich Aceh which has claimed some 15,000 lives, mostly civilians.

On Wednesday more than 1,400 GAM rebels were released under a general amnesty called for in the peace pact. Aceh rebels have in the past been accused of piracy and the International Maritime Bureau had warned ships to stay clear of Aceh's coast.

The guerrillas have denied carrying out pirate attacks.

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