Australian PM: Troops to Leave Indonesia in Weeks
Australian troops will likely leave Indonesia's tsunami-devastated Aceh province within weeks rather than months, Prime Minister John Howard said on Thursday, February 3, 2005. Australia has around 1,000 troops deployed in Indonesia—including airplanes, helicopters, a naval transport ship, and a field hospital—to help with relief efforts following the December 26 magnitude-9 earthquake and tsunami in the Indian Ocean. The Indonesian northern province of Aceh was worst hit by the tsunami, with 230,000 people killed or missing.