ASSOCIATED PRESS, Mon Apr 29, 2002 6:21 AM ET
Rebel Crackdown Sought in Indonesia
AMBON, Indonesia (AP) - A Christian leader on Monday called for a crackdown on a
paramilitary Muslim group suspected of involvement in the brutal killings of 12
Christians in Indonesia's Maluku province.
Several religious leaders have claimed the Laskar Jihad, or Holy War Troop, was
behind Sunday's attack in Soya, a Christian village on the outskirts of Maluku's
provincial capital, Ambon.
The slayings threatened to undermine a fragile peace pact, signed in February and
meant to stop three years of sectarian violence that has killed up to 9,000 people in
Maluku, which is divided into Christian and Muslim sections.
About a dozen men armed with guns, grenades and daggers attacked Soya before
dawn Sunday, torching at least 30 homes and a church. A six-month-old child was
among the 12 victims.
"We need a crackdown on Laskar Jihad," said Cornelius Bohm, a Christian pastor in
Ambon. "They are creating havoc here."
Laskar Jihad spokesman Ayi Syaifudin said there was "clearly no proof" to
accusations that the group was behind the attack, the Koran Tempo newspaper
reported Monday.
Some analysts suspect the group has links with Osama bin Laden's al-Qaida
network. Laskar Jihad's leadership has denied the claims.
Police have not made any arrests or named any suspects in the attack.
The violence came two days after Laskar Jihad rejected a February peace deal meant
to end the sectarian fighting in Maluku, a region known as the Moluccan or Spice
Islands during Dutch colonial rule.
Tensions have run high in Ambon since the mostly Christian Maluku Sovereignty
Front celebrated the 52nd anniversary of a failed independence bid on Thursday. The
group flew its banned independence flags across town, angering Muslims who burnt
down a partially rebuilt church.
Violence in Maluku, 1,600 miles east of Jakarta, peaked in mid-2000, when
thousands of armed Muslim fighters belonging to Laskar Jihad arrived from Java,
Indonesia's main island.
Several parts of the sprawling Indonesian archipelago have been racked by separatist,
ethnic and religious violence for years. About 85 percent of Indonesia's 210 million
people are Muslims, but Christians and Muslims are split almost evenly in Maluku.
Copyright © 2002 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.
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