Death toll increases to 98 in renewed Ambon violence

Death toll increases to 98 in renewed Ambon violence

JAKARTA (JP): Renewed clashes between Muslims and Christians
in the riot-torn Maluku capital of Ambon have raised the death
toll to 98 after 10 more people died of slash and bullet wounds
in hospitals on Friday, a local police spokesman said.

Maluku Police spokesman Maj. Jekriel Philip told The Jakarta
Post by phone from Ambon that more than 400 people were also
injured in the violence which first erupted on July 24 in the
Poka low-cost housing complex across Ambon Bay.

"Today, ten more people died in hospitals, including two at
the Haulusi General Hospital," Jekriel said, adding that they
were admitted following violence on Wednesday and Thursday.

Jekriel also said security personnel fired warning shots on
Friday afternoon to disperse groups of Muslims and Christians
carrying sharp weapons and homemade firearms in the Galala area.

"The situation was put under control. Ambon is calm and there
was no killing today," Jekriel said.

Witnesses said the city was still tense and shops and
businesses were not yet open.

The news agency, Antara, said residents were seen setting up
roadblocks on the streets to prevent opponents from approaching
their neighborhood.

Witnesses were also quoted as saying that hundreds of armed
Muslims and Christians stood guard around their neighborhoods in
the city's outskirts, blocking travel to and from other towns and
villages on the island.

Residents claimed on Thursday that troops massacred at least
22 civilians in a church on Wednesday.

Jekriel, however, reiterated his denial on Friday and said
that they were killed in communal clashes.

Both sides accused soldiers and police of protecting the
other, a claim military officials have repeatedly denied.

Meanwhile, hundreds of people fleeing the Ambon violence have
been staying at the Bau Bau seaport in Southeast Sulawesi since
Tuesday as refugee camps provided by the local government could
not accommodate more people.

Local government spokesman Syamsuddin Kasim told Antara on
Friday that at least 6,000 people fled to the province since the
violence erupted in late July.

The Embassy of the People's Republic of China said in a
statement that "China was deeply concerned over the violence" and
called on "the Indonesian government to take effective measures
to restore security and protect the interests of local people,
including ethnic Chinese".

Dozens of ethnic Chinese-owned shops were set on fire when
violence erupted again in Ambon late last month.

Ambon and other islands in the province were hit by months of
Muslim-Christian clashes which first erupted in mid-January and
killed more than 350 people. (byg)