The Jakarta Post, 5/6/2004 3:47:41 PM
Baby and adult killed by seaborne gunmen in Maluku
AMBON, Maluku (AFP): Gunmen firing from a speedboat shot dead a Christian adult
and a baby and wounded three other people in a dawn attack off Buru Island in
Indonesia's Maluku province, police said on Thursday.
Muslim-Christian fighting has killed 38 people in the neighboring island of Ambon.
Provincial police spokesman Hendro Prasetyo said an 11-month-old baby and a
38-year-old Christian man, who was shot six times in the chest, were killed in the
attack at about 6:00 a.m. Wednesday.
They and the three wounded, as well as another person who is missing, were going
about their normal business in Wamkana village when eight attackers opened fire from
a speedboat about 200-300 meters (220-330 yards) offshore, Prasetyo said.
In Ambon city on the island of the same name, a banned parade by Christian
separatists on April 25 sparked several days of sectarian clashes.
Muslims saw the parade as provocative, even though separatist supporters make up
only a small percentage of the province's Christian population.
The violence was the worst since a pact in February 2002 ended three years of
inter-religious fighting which killed about 5,000 people.
Hundreds of buildings were torched and more than 9,000 Muslims and Christians fled
their homes.
No explosions were heard Thursday morning in Ambon but traumatized residents
remained reluctant to carry out normal activities in parts of the city.
Prasetyo said 11 suspects accused of links to the separatist movement would be
flown to Jakarta Thursday for their cases to be processed.
The provincial police chief has been replaced for failing to curb the violence and police
have been at pains to show they are cracking down on alleged separatists.
Buru island was home to a penal colony during the reign of former dictator Soeharto.
The renowned author Pramoedya Ananta Toer was among those imprisoned there.
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