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)