AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, Friday December 7, 2001 3:20 PM
Muslim group moves on Christian city in Indonesia, says church
JAKARTA, Dec 7 (AFP) - Some 1,000 Muslims have approached the mainly Christian
town of Tentena in Indonesia's Central Sulawesi province and plan to attack it, church
officials said Friday.
Scouts said they had seen members of the Laskar Jihad (Jihad Force) entering a
forest in Tojo district, 70 kilometers (43 miles) east of Tentena, late Thursday, a
Christian activist in the lakeside town said.
"Our scouts reported by phone that some 1,000 men from Laskar Jihad are heading
towards Tentena through a forest in Tojo," Yos Adjalim from the Christian church's
Crisis Center told AFP by telephone.
Tens of thousands of people in the Tentena area have been living in fear of attack after
sectarian violence flared again about two weeks ago.
"We have reported our findings to the security authorities here and they said they are
tracking down the Laskar Jihad," Adjalim said.
A Catholic priest in Tentena, Father Jimmy Tumbelaka, said the Laskar Jihad
members had moved out of the town of Poso, about 50 kilometers north, after troops
arrived there to restore order.
"They are now in the Tojo area because it is a more secluded area which makes it
easier for them to attack Tentena undetected by the troops."
Noldy Tako, the secretary of the crisis center, said it was "quite obvious the Laskar
Jihad had chosen to use the forest with the intention to attack Tentena."
Military and police in Tentena were not immediately available for confirmation. A duty
policeman in Poso, Second Private Samsuddin, said they had not received reports of
the Laskar Jihad activity.
Seven Christian villages have been damaged or totally destroyed and at least nine
people have been killed in clashes around the towns of Poso and Tentena last week
and early this week.
Laskar Jihad, which is based in Central Java, battled Christians in the Maluku islands
to the east before many of its members moved to the Poso district.
Top security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who visited the area on
Wednesday and Thursday, has said five battalions of police and soldiers -- at least
3,250 men -- are being deployed as part of a six-month operation to restore security.
One of their tasks will be to evict people from outside the area, he has said.
But church activist Adjalim said residents in Tentena "urgently need more troops" to
protect them.
Michael Elmquist, deputy United Nations Humanitarian Coordinator, said last week
that up to 7,000 members of Laskar Jihad may have moved to Poso.
The violence between Muslim and Christian groups in Poso first erupted last year and
has left more than 300 people killed and tens of thousands homeless.
Copyright © 2001 AFP. All rights reserved.
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