The Jakarta Post, 5/4/2002 5:17:37 PM
Tension rise in Ambon, one killed
JAKARTA (JP): Tension rise in Ambon capital of strife torn Maluku as one person was
killed and at least two others injured in a bomb blast on Saturday, reports said.
The fatality, identified as Stenly Maitimu, died in the blast, Antara reported.
The blast went off while rival mobs were hurling stones at each other in the city's
Trikora district, the report said.
AFP quoted hospital officials in Ambon as saying that several youths were treated for
bomb shrapnel injuries.
It is the second deadly blast since warring Christians and Muslims signed a peace
pact in February, and comes one week after the massacre of 13 Christian villagers in
a pre-dawn raid on Ambon's outskirts of Soya.
A bomb blast rocked Ambon on April 3, killing at least four people and triggering the
mob torching of the governor's office.Ambon, the capital of the island chain province of
Maluku in the east of archipelago, is divided into Christian and Muslim quarters as a
result of three years of deadly sectarian fighting which has left more than 9,000 dead.
After the rival sides signed a government-brokered truce in February a brief period of
peace descended over the region once known as the Spice Islands and fabled for its
abundance of nutmeg and cloves.
But since early April a string of violent incidents has shattered the fragile peace,
peaking with the April 28 massacre.
Tensions were further heightened around the April 25 anniversary of an outlawed,
predominantly Christian separatist group, the Republic of South Maluku (RMS).
Blasts rang out across the city, a torch was churched, and security forces fired
warning shots after RMS supporters defied bans and took to the streets. Several
people were injured in themayhem.
Calls for martial law to be imposed in Maluku following the April 28 massacre were
rejected by Jakarta after an assessment team sent to the region concluded it was not
immediately needed.
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