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)