By Dan Eaton
JAKARTA, Dec 30 (Reuters) - A U.S. aircraft carrier group was headed for Indonesia's tsunami-hit Aceh province on Thursday and several other U.S. military ships were on course to the Bay of Bengal to help with relief operations, officials said.
The carrier USS Abraham Lincoln and four other vessels will be stationed off Aceh on the northern tip of Sumatra island where the death toll from Sunday's earthquake and tsunami has risen past 47,000.
Another group of seven U.S. military ships, including a helicopter carrier, steamed for the Bay of Bengal in the Indian Ocean.
Lieutenant General James T. Conway, joint chiefs of staff director of operations, told a briefing in Washington late on Wednesday the Lincoln group had 12 helicopters on board, "which we find extremely valuable in these types of scenarios".
Conway, according to a transcript given to Reuters by the U.S. embassy in Jakarta, said a U.S. assessment team was expected in Aceh on Thursday.
Teams had already been dispatched to Thailand and Sri Lanka, also hard hit by the tsunami that has killed more than 87,000 people across the region.
He said the Lincoln carrier strike group had been in Hong Kong when the tsunami struck. It was diverted to the Gulf of Thailand and is now making its way to the Malacca Strait.
The ships associated with the carrier group are expected to take position off the island of Sumatra, Conway said.
He did not say exactly when the ships would arrive. A U.S. defence department official in Jakarta confirmed the carrier fleet was on its way.
SHIPS CAN PRODUCE FRESH WATER
Conway also said the USS Bonhomme Richard Expeditionary Strike Group of seven vessels, which had been in Guam -- in the Pacific Ocean -- had been diverted to the Bay of Bengal, where it would arrive before Jan. 7.
"It has seven ships associated with the strike group (and) carries 25 helicopters, which will be valuable to us again in disaster relief," he said.
He said five other ships of the squadron located in Guam were moving toward the disaster-hit areas of southern Asia.
"These five ships have fresh-water-producing capability. Each ship can produce 90,000 gallons of fresh water a day, and of course that'll be extremely valuable as we have a number of requests already for fresh-water supply," Conway said.
He said a sixth ship with a field hospital was also headed to the region.
The United States suspended normal military ties with Indonesia in 1999 following allegations of widespread human rights abuses by its military in East Timor after the tiny province voted for independence.
However, ties have begun to recover as Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim country, has become a key ally in the U.S.-led war on terror.
Aceh, 1,700 km (1,000 miles) northwest of Jakarta, is under civilian emergency rule as part of efforts to quell a separatist insurgency that began in 1976.
Until Tuesday, it had been closed to foreign aid workers and journalists.