The Straits Times, Thursday, April 1, 2004
2 Christian leaders shot in Sulawesi
JAKARTA - Gunmen riding a motorcycle shot dead a Christian minister in Indonesia's
central Sulawesi province, police said on Wednesday.
Mr Freddy Wuisan was killed on the outskirts of the seaside town of Poso late on
Tuesday, said Lieutenant-Colonel Abdi Dharma. The killing came hours after a
Christian university dean was wounded in a similar driveby shooting in the town.
Lt-Col Dharma declined to speculate on a reason for the shootings, but the province
has been wracked by religious violence in recent years.
Poso was a major battleground in fighting between Christians and Muslims three
years ago that claimed about 1,000 people lives and displaced tens of thousands of
people.
Large-scale clashes between the two sides have now subsided, but occasional
shootings and bomb blasts still take place in the region.
A spate of deadly attacks on Christians late last year was blamed by intelligence
officials on Jemaah Islamiah, the Al-Qaeda linked terror group accused of being
behind the 2002 Bali blasts.
Indonesia is the world's most populous Muslim nation, but Central Sulawesi has
roughly equal Muslim and Christian populations. -- AP
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