Sectarian violence in Ambon continues: 36 now dead

An Indonesian anti-riot policeman runs for cover as unidentified snipers fire during sectarian clashes between Muslims and Christians in Ambon, Indonesia, yesterday. Clashes between Muslims and Christians entered a fourth day in the eastern city of Ambon, where at least 32 people have died and more than 100 others have been injured. The battles, which flared Sunday after a parade by Christian separatists celebrating the 54th anniversary of the South Maluku Republic, were the worst since an agreement in February 2002 ended three years of sectarian fighting in which an estimated 5,000 people died. PHOTO: EPA

Gunfire and explosions rocked the provincial capital of Ambon yesterday, leaving one dead, 13 wounded and a church in ruins as Christians and Muslims clashed for a fourth day in Indonesia's Maluku islands.

In Jakarta, national police spokesman Colonel Zainuri Lubis said the death toll from the violence had risen to 36 since Sunday. A total of 159 people were injured in that period, he said.

Shortly after dawn, unidentified assailants launched attacks in several districts of Ambon, with the heaviest fighting in areas that straddle the avenues between the Muslim and Christian communities.

Plumes of smoke could be seen rising from at least two places, and gunfire from snipers positioned atop buildings rang out across the divided city for several hours.

Police and the military were patrolling the streets, and most shops and banks were shut.

Ambon police chief Brigadier General Bambang Sutrisno insisted security was improving in the province, where Muslim-Christian violence three years ago killed 9,000 people.

"We believe things are getting better," he said.

A 22-year-old man was shot dead yesterday. Nine others were taken to a hospital in the Muslim part of town with gunshot wounds or blast injuries, medical orderlies said.

The Nazaret Protestant Church and seven nearby houses in a Christian neighborhood were torched by unidentified assailants just after dawn.

Witnesses said at least four people were injured.

Witnesses also claimed the military stood by as the church and nearby homes were burned down.

"We wanted to get our things from the house but the soldiers shouted `you cannot' and pointed their guns at us," said Jan Lukukay, a 53-year-old school teacher. "Why aren't they protecting us?"

The latest round of violence erupted on Sunday after several members of the region's small, largely Christian, separatist movement rallied in the city center. Muslims, who view such public displays as a provocation, assaulted the demonstrators, touching off the sectarian clashes.

The earlier conflict here galvanized militant Muslims across Indonesia -- and attracted Islamic fighters from around Southeast Asia and from the Middle East.

Many members of Jemaah Islamiyah, an al-Qaeda-linked extremist group blamed for a series of deadly bombings in Indonesia, have told authorities that they fought in the conflict.

Unlike most of mainly Muslim Indonesia, the province's 2 million people are evenly divided between Muslims and Christians.

Christians complain that Muslim settlers from other parts of Indonesia have come to dominate government work and the retail sector, siphoning off jobs and business from Christians.

In a related development, police in Indonesia's Central Sulawesi said in the past three months they have seized 168 homemade bombs and about 100 firearms in searches of areas that were also the scene of sectarian fighting in recent years.