JAKARTA, May 29 (Xinhua) -- The Indonesian Navy has sent four warships and two Nomad reconnaissance planes to the Indonesia-Timor Leste marine border following the escalation of an armed conflict in the neighboring country, a spokesman said.

    "The four warships consist of two fast patrol boats with around 60 crew on board respectively and two corvettes each with 150 crew on board," Antara news agency quoted Navy Chief of Staff Slamet Soebijanto as saying on Monday.

    A number of other patrol boats were on standby for departure to the border area when needed, he said.

    Indonesian Military (TNI) chief Air Marshal Djoko Suyanto had previously instructed the military rank-and-file stationed near the Indonesia-Timor Leste border to intensify security patrols amid the escalation of the conflicts in newly-independent Timor Leste.

    A number of people were killed in armed clashes between Timor Leste security forces and cashiered servicemen as Asia's poorest nation slipped closer to chaos. Timor Leste Prime Minister Mari Alkatiri said the gun battles in Dili and elsewhere had left a number of security troops killed.

    The skirmishes erupted last month in Timor Leste after some 600 members of the tiny country's 1,400-strong military were dismissed. The renegade soldiers deserted after complaining of alleged discrimination because they came from the western part of the tiny country.

    In a desperate move to stop the rampage, East Timor invited peacekeepers from Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand and Portugal to help restore calm. Enditem