AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, Thursday December 27, 2001 4:51 PM
Soldiers and police in gunfight in Indonesia's Ambon, several
hurt
AMBON, Indonesia, Dec 27 (AFP) - At least three people were hurt in a shootout
between Indonesian police, soldiers and marines in the riot-torn city of Ambon,
residents and a navy officer said Thursday.
The incident began when soldiers from an army battalion in the Christian area of
Galala fired shots at the Muslim-dominated Tantui area, residents said.
But the shots must have threatened a post manned by the police Brimob elite unit
because they returned fire, they said.
The shootout worsened when three speedboats manned by marines on the Bay of
Ambon also came under fire.
"Our men shot back because they were shot at," Colonel Chaidir Patanory of the
Halong navy base near Galala said.
Witnesses in Tantui said one Brimob officer was grievously injured by a shot to his
head and immediately evacuated.
Stray shots also wounded two refugees sheltering in the Halong navy compound, said
one refugee who identified herself as Arini.
"We have also heard that two civilians have been injured by stray shots, but I have not
seen them myself," Arini added.
The military and police in Ambon declined immediate comment.
Ambon's sectarian violence has often taken place at sea, with several speedboats
shot at by snipers this month.
Fighting between Muslims and Christians in the Maluku islands has left more than
5,000 people dead and created 500,000 refugees since violence first erupted in the
town of Ambon, on the island of the same name, in January 1999.
The conflict prompted the government to slap a civil emergency rule on the Malukus
last year.
Copyright © 2001 AFP. All rights reserved.
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