BBC World News, Sunday, 25 April, 2004, 12:03 GMT 13:03 UK
Ten killed in Indonesia clashes
[Photo: At least three buildings were set ablaze in the clashes.]
At least 10 people have died in renewed fighting between Christians and Muslims in
IIndonesia's Moluccan islands, police and witnesses say.
People fought with knives and stones, buildings were set alight and an Associated
Press reporter says he saw two men hacked to death in the street.
It came as separatist Christians paraded in the capital, Ambon, to mark a failed
independence bid 50 years ago.
More than 5,000 people have died since a sectarian conflict broke out in 1999.
The two groups signed a government-sponsored peace pact in 2002, which had
appeared to be holding.
Explosions
Witnesses said gangs of Muslim and Christian youths hurled stones at each other in
the centre of the provincial capital on Sunday.
Gunfire was heard, as well as several small explosions.
The director of the city's al-Fatah hospital said eight bodies - most with gunshot
wounnds - had been brought in, AP reported.
The news agency's reporter said he saw a gang of about 50 people armed with swords
and sticks hack two men to death close to Pattimura university. The victims' bodies
were left lying in the street.
At least three buildings were set alight, including an office used by the United
Nations.
The Moluccas, 2,600 kilometres (1,600 miles) east of Jakarta, became known as the
Spice Islands during Dutch colonial rule because of its famous nutmeg and cloves.
© BBC MMIV
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