Indonesia's official human rights commission says riots that killed more than 1,000 people in the capital, Jakarta, in 1998 were systematically planned.

National Commission on Human Rights spokesman, Enny Suprapto, says the three-day riots "did not take place spontaneously, but were systematically planned for widespread mayhem".

He says the riots were instigated by groups of provocateurs who broke into buildings and shops and encouraged mobs to loot them.

Mr Suprapto has declined to say who is believed to have organised the violence, which broke out just before former president Suharto resigned, but he says investigators plan to question several high-ranking military and police officers who were in charge of security at the time.

Indonesians of Chinese descent were the main target of the rioters, who caused massive damage in the Glodok district of the city.

At least 1,100 people are believed to have been killed and 1,400 buildings and homes destroyed in the riots, triggered by the shooting death of three university students in the city.

Suprapto says investigators want to question former armed forces chief General Wiranto, former army strategic reserve command chief Prabowo and former Jakarta military chief Major General Syafrie Syamsuddin.

Source: Asia-Pacific, Australian Broadcasting Corporation