5 killed in fresh Poso communal conflict<\/p>\n
Badri Djawara, The Jakarta Post, Poso<\/p>\n
At least five people were killed and five others were injured
\nwhen two rival sectarian groups clashed in the Central Sulawesi
\nriot-torn town of Poso late on Tuesday.<\/p>\n
The clash between the Muslim Laskar Jihad (holy war fighters)
\nand Christian fighters occurred in Tabalu, Betalemba and Patiunga
\nvillages in Poso Pesisir district, Poso Regency. The clash was
\napparently a continuation of a riot between the two rival groups
\nin Betalemba village on Tuesday afternoon.<\/p>\n
Sources at the Poso Police precinct said that two of the dead
\nwere identified as 29-year-old Abdullah and 14-year-old Masudin
\nfrom Laskar Jihad and 26-year-old Saad from the same group, who
\nsuffered gunshot wounds. The sources said the other three dead
\nand four wounded were from the Christian side. The sources,
\nhowever, did not identify them.<\/p>\n
At least 76 houses, one church and one elementary school
\nbuilding were burned during the clash in Betalemba village. In
\nPatiunga village, ten houses were also burned in the riot.<\/p>\n
The tragic clash prompted a wave of people to leave their home
\nvillages for safer areas. Some of them left for the provincial
\ncapital Palu and others to nearby villages.<\/p>\n
Chief spokesman of the Central Sulawesi Police, Adj. Sr. Comr.
\nAgus Sugianto said that the three villages had been plagued by
\nrenewed religious tension when 800 to 1,000 people crowded the
\nvillages on Tuesday afternoon.<\/p>\n
Poso police, he said, had deployed dozens of officers from the
\npolice elite Mobile Brigade to the troubled villages. \"By
\n(Wednesday), the police had managed to control the situation,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
Agus said that they had not yet been able to arrest any member
\nof the rival groups involved in the clash. \"Besides we were
\noutnumbered, the group members were very quick to flee into the
\njungle to avoid the police,\" he said.<\/p>\n
He also said that chief of the provincial police Brig. Gen.
\nZainal Abidin was in Poso to monitor the situation.<\/p>",
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