Clash still a mystery to police

Clash still a mystery to police

MAUMERE, East Nusa Tenggara: Local authorities of Manggarai
regency here are still trying to find out what triggered
residents of two neighboring villages to become embroiled in
Saturday's fatal clash which killed six people and injured 25
others.

But a senior resident said security authorities have listed at
least three locals believed to have aroused the anger of the
villages of Puntu and Pajo in Kuwus district.

"The three alleged provocateurs have not yet been apprehended
as police still need more witnesses to build the case," the
resident who asked for anonymity said here on Tuesday.

No names were released of the three people suspected in the
incident.

Six people, including a five-year-old child, were killed in
the clash, following a dispute over the ownership of a plot of
land.

The groups were equipped with a range of weapons, including
spears, blades, sharpened bamboos and bows and arrows.

"Local police had in fact deployed 20 officers to prevent them
from being involved in a clash. Only two days after the
deployment ceased, however, the clash erupted," Manggarai regent
Gaspar Parang Ehok told reporters on Monday.

When asked on Tuesday about the role of the three suspected
troublemakers in the deadly incident, the regent said that the
police had so far not revealed their names.

"It's a common thing with villagers who always attempt to stir
up (fellow residents) and which often ends in a clash," Gaspar
said.

East Nusa Tenggara police spokesman, Maj. Sismantoro told
Antara that the mobs in the clash also set ablaze two houses, one
shop and five cottages.

The land dispute between the two warring villages has been in
effect since 1963. Similar clashes over the same problem also
occurred in 1966, 1993, and 1994 before the last one, the regent
explained.

Among the 25 injured people in Saturday's clash were four
women. (yac/bsr)