AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, Tuesday December 11, 2001 1:52 PM
Two killed in boat explosion in Malukus
JAKARTA, Dec 11 (AFP) - At least two people were killed when a boat with 43 people
on board exploded in a bay off the island of Ambon in Indonesia's strife-torn Maluku
islands, the military said.
The Kalifornia motorized boat was transporting Christian residents from Ambon's
Gudang Arang area to nearby Galala when it exploded and caught fire, said Master
Sergeant Sairun from the Maluku military headquarters.
Injured victims of the explosion were being treated at hospitals.
Fighting between Muslims and Christians in the Malukus has left more than 5,000
people dead and created over half a million refugees since sectarian violence first
erupted in the town of Ambon, on the island of the same name, in January 1999.
A local military spokesman said Tuesday's explosion originated from the boat's
engine deck and it was not clear if it had been caused by a bomb.
But local Christians were convinced the explosion was the work of Muslim extremists
and went on a rampage, setting fire to the district council building, a local journalist
said.
The fire destroyed part of the building but no one was injured.
The sectarian violence in Ambon has often taken place at sea. Last month gunmen in
a speedboat shot dead three passengers in another boat in the same bay.
Copyright © 2001 AFP. All rights reserved.
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