SYDNEY, Oct 7, 2008 (AFP) - The Australian Navy has detained 17 suspected asylum seekers at sea just a week after a boatload of Afghans, Iranians and Indonesians was intercepted off the country's coast, officials said Tuesday.

Immigration Minister Chris Evans declined to reveal where the latest boat people were from, but said there could be a connection between the two batches of suspected illegal immigrants.

'I haven't ruled out the possibility that these two boats may have been launched by the one people smuggling syndicate,' Evans told the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC).

'We don't know as yet, but certainly I'm of the view that there may be a connection between the two.'

Another boat carrying 14 people was intercepted in the Timor Sea off Australia's northwest coast on September 29. Evans revealed that its passengers included nine Afghans, three Iranians and two Indonesians.

The latest group of 17, including three crew, was detained after pulling alongside an offshore oil storage facility off the northwest coast of Australia, in an area patrolled by border security authorities, Evans said.

The group, including one woman, was aboard an Australian Navy vessel bound for an offshore Australian detention centre at Christmas Island where they will join the seafarers detained in a similar area last week, he said.

'I just had some information that had them leaving at similar times and there just is some suggestion that they may have been linked,' he said.

'We'll have a bit more information when we've interviewed all the passengers.'

Rights groups have expressed concern at Australia's policy of taking boatpeople to remote off-shore stations rather than processing their claims on the mainland.

In July, Australia announced a 'more humane' policy towards refugees, scrapping a widely-criticised system of automatically locking up asylum seekers on arrival, which was introduced by the previous conservative government.

Asylum seekers arriving by boat would still be held at Australia's Christmas Island detention centre, but with the aim of resolving their cases as quickly as possible, Evans said at the time.