"They are our religious leaders," said Aum Supreme Truth spokesman Hiroshi Araki, pointing to portraits of the two long-haired boys stuck on the walls of a Tokyo a partment.

They are "mysterious and different from ordinary kids. I was surprised to meet Them at first ... I felt so secure in their company," the 31-year-old spokesman told AFP in a rare interview with foreign media.

The boys, both addressed as "Your Holiness" by Aum followers, are the children OF Aum Supreme Truth sect leader Shoko Asahara, currently in jail and on trial for M Urder. Asahara also has four daughters.

The cult spokesman wore a silver-colour locket holding pictures of Asahara on onE side and of the sons on the other. It is "a charm which gives energy" to him, he said.

Twenty five followers were living in a three-storey building in aresidential area in Adachi Ward -- the Tokyo district near their guru's jail -- where they get to gether twice a day for ceremonies.

Disciples meditate in the apartment's training hall with an altar decorated withflowers, stones that were supposed to have "spiritual energy" and other objects in cluding a large donation box.

A big photograph of Asahara apparently in meditation was set up at the centre ofthe altar, flanked by pictures of the two sons, who live apart from each other.

For services in the hall, followers wear special head gear they call the "PerfecT Salvation Initiation" because it helps tune their brain waves into deep meditatio N.

Wires spring out of the caps, supposedly conducting minute electric currents.

They wear the contraptions because "otherwise you would have to spend many hoursmeditating and reading sutras in order to reach this stage", Araki said. The headg ear had a "strong effect", he said.

The cult, founded in 1987 by near-blind yoga practitioner Asahara, is accused ofastring of crimes, including the March 1995 Sarin gassing of Tokyo's subway that killed 12 people and made thousands ill.

But many followers consider the tragedy a remote event.

Kenichi Umehara, 26, joined the cult in 1992 when he was studying economics at The elite Tokyo University.

"I attained (religious) belief before the (gassing) incidents ... they are separate things in my mind," he said, while working at a computer. A poster beside him s howed the two boys under the headline "Our New-Born Gurus".

Takako Tetsukawa, 27, wearing the headgear, said reports of cult crimes surpriseD Her. "You may reproach me if I say this, but it was really a bit like something H appening to strangers."

Tetsukawa was punching a keyboard writing an article titled "Marvellous body thaT mosquitoes won'T bite" for the cult's website, where disciples can buy goods rang ing from T-shirts and cups to cookies, books and videos.

The follower said she was leading "a full life" as she practised for a higher religious stage."I used to be vague about my goal (in life) but I now have a clear G oal."

The sect has to vacate the Adachi apartment because the building's owner has gonE bankrupt.

But it is having problems finding a new place as a growing number of municipalities turn away Aum Supreme Truth cult members.

At least 19 municipal governments have refused to register Aum members as residents, despite being warned by Tokyo that they have questionable legal right to do so .

Residents in the Sakuyama district of Otawara City, northeast of Tokyo, cancelleD Summer festivals to concentrate on anti-cult protests after followers, including the five-year-old boy, moved in in June.

If it were not for the campaign "we would be watching fireworks at the river banK now", 51-year-ld resident Sayoko Seki said while joining thousands of others in a rally this week.

"All our fun has gone," she complained.

A 65-year-old man in the town said the cult "is driving us crazy".

The government is a "coward" for allowing the sect tostay afloat, he said. "I Want to bomb them."

The group escaped being outlawed under the anti-subversive law in January 1997 Because a legal panel ruled there was no reason to believe it could still be a threa T to society.

The cult has boosted its Financial base with computer sales and is now regroupinG with some 1,500 followers, according to the public security investigation agency.

Asahara is fighting 17 criminal charges, including masterminding the Tokyo subwaY attack.