AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, Sunday January 13, 2002 8:53 PM
Two more killed in Indonesia's restive Ambon
AMBON, Indonesia, Jan 13 (AFP) - Two men were killed after a group of men from a
Muslim area of the eastern Indonesian city of Ambon attacked a predominantly
Christian village there, police said Sunday.
Some 20 armed men attacked the Rutung village in the Baguala area of Ambon early
on Sunday and one attacker and one villager were killed in the violence, Ambon police
chief Adjunct Senior Commissioner Noviantoro (Eds: one name) said.
Rutung was formerly a Muslim-majority village but has gradually become
predominantly Christian since ethnic violence erupted in Ambon in January 1999.
Noviantoro said that the attackers appeared to have come from the predominatly
Muslim area of Airbesar in Ambon.
He also pointed out that many of the former Rutung inhabitants had since resettled in
Airbesar.
The fighting between Muslims and Christians in Ambon, that also later spread to the
other islands in the Malukus, has left more than 5,000 people dead and created
500,000 refugees.
The conflict prompted the government to slap a civil emergency rule on the Malukus
last year but the status has so far failed to drastically curb the violence.
Copyright © 2001 AFP. All rights reserved.
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