Soldiers patrol streets after bombs explode

Hundreds of Indonesian soldiers are patrolling the streets of a provincial capital after 16 small bombs exploded.

Earlier, authorities unearthed a mass grave containing 48 bodies.

Security forces discovered the grave near Lhong village, in the west of Indonesia's western most province of Aceh.

Lt Col Firdaus, a spokesman for the security forces, said it was not immediately clear who the victims were or how they died.

He said the corpses were badly decomposed, suggesting they had been in the ground for some time.

In the provincial capital Banda Aceh, soldiers patrolled the city on foot and in trucks after the 16 bombs exploded.

Hospital officials said no-one was hurt in the blasts, which coincided with Indonesia's 56th anniversary of independence.

The discovery of the 48 bodies came only hours after Indonesia's President Megawati Sukarnoputri apologised for atrocities committed by security forces in Aceh and Irian Jaya, a province where secessionist guerrillas are also active.

In a speech to the national assembly, she ruled out independence for the two regions and instead urged separatists to give up their armed struggle and "help build a new Indonesia."

Some 6,000 people have died in the conflict in Aceh during the past decade, including 1,000 this year.