The Jakarta Post, 3/5/2005 12:21:26 PM
Grenade explodes on Maluku island
AMBON, Maluku (AP): Unidentified attackers hurled a grenade Saturday at a group of
motorcycle taxi drivers in a Christian district of an eastern Indonesian city, injuring
three people, police said.
The victims were taxi drivers waiting for passengers on a street in Ambon, the capital
of the Maluku island chain, said police Lt. Col. Leonidas Braksan.
Police declined to speculate on the motive for the attack, which occurred less than
100 meters (330 feet) from a church.
At least 9,000 people were killed in fighting between Muslims and Christians between
1999 and 2001 in the area. A peace deal stemmed the worst of the fighting, but
sporadic violence continues in the region, about 2,600 kilometers (1,600 miles)
northeast of Jakarta.
In April last year, a march in Ambon by the region's small Christian separatist
movement triggered four days of shootings, bombings and mortar attacks that left
about 40 people dead and hundreds of houses torched. (**)
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