The Jakarta Post, August 09, 2002
Italian killed in attack on bus in Central Sulawesi
JAKARTA (JP)-- One Italian was killed and four Indonesians were injured on Thursday
when unidentified gunmen opened fire on a bus in the Central Sulawesi district of
Pamona Selatan, AP news agency reported.
The regional police and the Italian Embassy in Jakarta on Friday confirmed the death,
and identified the victim as Lorenzo Tadey, 32, who was traveling with an Italian
companion, identified as Patricia Linosy. It did not give details on their hometowns.
The bus was on a trip from Tanah Toraja, a well-known tourist area in southern
Sulawesi, to Palu, the capital of the province of Central Sulawesi.
"We very much regret the incident, especially because it claimed the life of a
foreigner," regional police spokesman Lt. Col. Agus Sugianto said. "We are
investigating, and the clear thing is that the assailants used automatic weapons," he
added.
Pamona Selatan is located near Poso, a district in central Sulawesi, which has a
history of violence between Muslims and Christians.
The region was the site of a two-year conflict between Christians and Muslims in
which at least 1,000 people died. Fighting died down last year, and in December a
government-mediated peace accord was signed.
Since then, there have been isolated incidents of violence, mostly attacks on buses or
explosions of homemade bombs, in which about a dozen people have died.
The latest shooting occurred just three days before negotiators from the two
communities were scheduled to hold talks with government representatives to
evaluate the implementation of the peace agreement.
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