Sydney - An Indonesian fishing boat carrying 32 male asylum seekers was intercepted Wednesday off Australia's west coast.

It was the seventh boat to arrive so far this year, the same number of boats that arrived in the whole of 2008.

The men were taken aboard HMAS Wollongong and are being transported to Australia's Indian Ocean territory of Christmas Island for processing.

Jakarta - An Indonesian court on Tuesday sentenced four Islamic militants to between four and 12 years in jail over the murder of a Christian teacher and a plot to bomb a cafe.

Judges at the South Jakarta District Court sentenced Abdurrahman Taib and Ki Agus Muhammad Toni to 12 years in jail.

A separate bench jailed Anis Sugandi and Sukarso Abdillah for five and four years, respectively, for being accessories to acts of terrorism.

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Sydney - An alleged people smuggler accused of ferrying more than 900 asylum seekers to Australia is to be extradited from Indonesia to face court in Australia, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said Tuesday.

Hadi Ahmadi, a dual Iraqi-Iranian national, is believed to have arranged the dispatch of four boats to Australia in 2001.

"This action further demonstrates the absolute importance for cooperation between the Australian and Indonesian governments in dealing with the scourge of people smugglers," Rudd said.

Jakarta - Indonesian police have arrested 70 migrants from Afghanistan seeking asylum in Australia, a police officer said Friday.

The Afghans were arrested late Thursday at a hotel in the resort area of Anyer in West Java, said Retno Windarti, an officer in the Cilegon district.

"They said they wanted to go to Australia - Indonesia is only a transit point," she said, adding that they had been taken to the immigration office.