ABC AUSTRALIA, 20/07/2004 02:00:58
Sectarian violence fears after Sulawesi priest murdered
A woman priest has been shot dead and a number of worshippers wounded in the
latest attack against Christians in Indonesia's Central Sulawesi province.
Our correspondent in Jakarta, Tim Palmer, says Indonesia's national police chief Dai
Bachtiar is to travel to Palu to personally supervise the investigation.
Reports say five men rode motorcycles up to the Presbyterian Church in Palu in the
early evening, one of the attackers entered then opened fire with a military-issue rifle
killing the 29-year-old minister and wounding four members of the congregation, one of
them critically.
Anti-Christian violence in Central Sulawesi has flared since the shooting of 10 people
last October.
A Christian prosecutor working on Jemaah Islamiyah-linked cases and another priest
were recently ambushed and murdered in the region.
Authorities fear the attacks could be an attempt by Islamic extremists to plunge
Central Sulawesi back into the sectarian conflict that claimed around 1,000 lives four
years ago.
20/07/2004 02:00:58 | ABC Radio Australia News
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