The Jakarta Post, 11/22/2003
Gunshots fired in restive Poso
JAKARTA (AFP): Tensions have risen after shooting was heard over the past two
nights in the religiously divided Poso district of Central Sulawesi, police there said
Saturday. Residents in the villages of Matako and Lage in Poso reported they heard
gunshots on Thursday and Friday nights, said district deputy police chief Rudi
Trenggono. "There were no casualties. We suspect that the gunmen, whom we are
still after, were only trying to put fear into people as the Eid-al-Fitr holiday
approaches," he told AFP. As of Saturday afternoon Poso is safe but "people are a bit
tense" by the shootings, he said, adding that a security force of about 3,000 men is
on alert. Up to 1,000 people were killed in Muslim-Christian battles which broke out in
the Poso district in 2000. The government broker! ed a peace deal in December 2001
but sporadic bloodshed continues.
All contents copyright © of The Jakarta Post.
|
