The Star, Sunday, September 08, 2002
Four die in religious violence on Indonesia's Maluku islands
JAKARTA, Indonesia: Unidentified gunmen on Sunday shot and killed three Muslim
women on a beach in Indonesia's Maluku province, triggering a riot in the provincial
capital that killed a Christian.
The violence is the latest in a series of bloody incidents in the region between
Muslims and Christians that have rendered a February peace accord largely
meaningless.
The three women were apparently washing in the sea when they were shot on the
island of Saparua, police Lt. Edi Watimena told The Associated Press from the
provincial capital, Ambon.
Watimena declined to comment on initial military reports the victims had been
decapitated.
Apparently in reaction to the news, a Muslim mob torched a minivan carrying
Christians in Ambon, said Watimena. One person was burnt to death and two others
injured before police dispersed the rioters, he said.
Maluku, about 2,600 kilometers (1,600 miles) east of Jakarta, has been wracked by
three years of fighting between Christians and Muslims. Up to 9,000 people have been
killed.
Despite initial hopes, the February peace accord has failed to stop the violence. The
province's Christian and Muslim populations, which are roughly equal, now live in
separate communities. Last week, a bomb exploded in Ambon, killing four children.
Saparua island, about 100 kilometers (60 miles) east of Ambon, has both Christian
and Muslim villages. It has seen some of the worst of the conflict.
Maluku, an archipelago, was known as the Spice Islands during Dutch colonial times.
- AP
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