The Jakarta Post, 9/8/2002 8:31:58 PM
Four killed in fresh violence in Maluku
JAKARTA (Agencies): Four people were killed in two incidents in the strife-torn
province of Maluku on Sunday, three days after four young girls were killed in a bomb
blast at a sports stadium.
In the first incident, three Muslim women from the island of Saparua were shot dead
as they walked on a beach early on Sunday, which police said led to a mob attack on
a car and the killing of its Christian driver in the city of Ambon on a nearby island.
"The shootings took place at around seven o'clock this morning. The women were at
the beach bathing and washing their clothes when the shootings occurred. They all
died on site," Sergeant Eddy Wattimena told Reuters.
AFP, spoke with a local journalist, who gave more detailed information that the
shooting occurred when unidentified gunmen in a speedboat near the coastal village of
Kulur on Haruku island fired on the people on the beach just east of Ambon early
Sunday, killing a woman and two girls.
Eddy Wattimena said the mob then torched a car and killed its driver after news of the
shooting reached Ambon several hours later. "Apparently the mob was angry over the
shootings because some of them were related to the victims," he said.
Ambon, some 2,300 km (1,400 miles) east of Jakarta, is the hub of the Maluku
islands, where a wave of clashes between Muslims and Christians has claimed more
than 5,000 lives since early 1999.
On Saturday, a bomb blast in the city wounded 52 people. The province's police chief,
Brig. Gen. Sunarko in Ambon said on Sunday that the police have so far questioned
16 people for Saturday's bombing at Mardika area. Most of the victims were students
of Maluku's politechnics school. However, "We cannot yet name them as witnesses
in this case because we have yet to finish the questioning," Sunarko told Antara.
Last Thursday, a bomb killed four young women -- three Christians and a Muslim.
Vice President Hamzah Haz said the blast was not linked to the long-running religious
conflict but was the work of "provocateurs".
Chief of Pattimura regional military command Maj. Gen. Jojo Santoso said he was
informed about the incident and he had ordered his subordinates to take necessary
measures to investigate the attack.
The latest incidents underscore the tension that remains in the once idyllic island
chain despite a peace deal signed by both sides in February. A civil emergency
status, one level down from martial law, remains in place in Maluku.
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