AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, Wednesday November 28, 2001 4:53 PM
Attacks on Christian villages in Sulawesi leave five dead: report
JAKARTA, Nov 28 (AFP) - Five people have been killed during attacks on three
Christian villages in the Poso district of Indonesia's Central Sulawesi province, a
newspaper said Wednesday.
The attacks on the villages of Betalemba, Tangkura and Patiwunga started on
Tuesday morning and lasted into the early hours of Wednesday, the Sinar Harapan
evening daily said.
Two of the attackers and three villagers were killed, it said.
Second Sergeant Sudirman of Poso district police said the attackers were suspected
members of armed Muslim groups but he had no further details.
"We have had no report yet as to whether there has been any casualties," Sudirman
told AFP.
On Monday a church was bombed and burnt down in Poso, which aid workers see as
a potential major new flashpoint in fighting between Muslims and Christians.
Poso town and surrounding areas in Central Sulawesi have seen intermittent clashes
between Muslims and Christians since December 1999. More than 300 people have
been killed.
Michael Elmquist, deputy United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator, said Tuesday a
recent mission to the province had found an "extremely tense" situation, with a "depth
of hatred" between Christians and Muslims.
He said possibly up to 7,000 members of Laskar Jihad -- a Java-based armed Islamic
group which has waged a "jihad" (holy war) against Christians in the Malukus -- had
moved to Poso to continue their battle.
Copyright © 2001 AFP. All rights reserved.
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