The Jakarta Post, 4/30/2004 11:19:51 AM
15 injured as Christians, Muslims clash in Ambon
AMBON, Maluku (AP): Muslims and Christians equipped with homemade bombs and
military-issue weapons clashed here on Friday, leaving 15 injured and scores of
houses in flames, witnesses and medical officials said.
It was the sixth straight day of clashes in the provincial capital of the Maluku islands.
At least 34 people have been killed, and the clashes have raised fears the region
could plunge back into a Muslim-Christian war that killed 9,000 people three years
ago.
Early Friday, fighting broke out in two parts of the city that straddle Christian and
Muslim areas. Gunfire and explosions could be heard most of the night.
Muslim mobs torched at least 30 houses close to a Protestant church, witnesses
said. Most of the homes were empty after their owners had fled when the clashes
began Sunday.
An Associated Press reporter in the area late Thursday saw Christian fighters taking
up positions with automatic weapons and stashes of homemade bombs.
Fifteen Muslims were taken to the city's Al-Fatah hospital with injuries sustained in
the fighting, medical officials there said. There were no immediate reports of Christian
casualties.
Elsewhere, unidentified attackers fired what appeared to be a mortar into a
Muslim-part of the city. The device left a large crater in the ground but caused no
injuries.
"There was a massive bang," said Ahmad Kadas, whose house was damaged in the
blast. "We all ran out in panic."
Authorities have deployed hundreds of reinforcements to the city, but the new security
officers appeared unwilling unable to stop the fighting, which is playing out in the city's
narrow streets and dilapated housing.
In the 1999-2001 conflict, police and soldiers joined in the battles, as did hundreds of
Muslim militants from across Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation,
and elsewhere in Southeast Asia.
Sunday's clashes were triggered after the island's small, mostly separatist Christian
group paraded through the city center - an act regarded as a provocation by Muslims.
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