Five more dead in continued Maluku mayhem

AMBON, Maluku (JP): Five people, including a police officer, were killed when armed villagers attacked a police housing complex in Ambon on Wednesday.

In Halmahera, North Maluku, three people were killed as soldiers beat back Christian villagers trying to exact revenge against Muslims for Monday's clashes in Duma village which left more than 100 people dead.

Witnesses said residents from the predominantly Muslim Galunggung area in Ambon raided the police complex in Tantui, Panggan Kasturi subdistrict, setting fire to houses and two churches.

Police identified the dead officer as Maj. Edi Sutanto, chief of the local Mobile Brigade. He was shot in the back.

One of the four civilian casualties was a three-and-a-half- year-old child. They were all taken to Halong Naval Hospital just outside Ambon. Nine other people, including a police officer, were treated for injuries at the hospital.

Sammy Waileruni, a lawyer for Maranatha Church, said the attackers came from Galunggung uphill.

"Tantui was an easy target because it is located at the foot of the hill. On the way down, they passed a military post manned by members of 733rd battalion and 303rd battalion of Kostrad," he said referring to the Army's Strategic Reserves Command.

Sammy suspected collusion with the military, given its inaction in preventing the attack.

The reason behind the latest attack was not clear.

Secretary of the Maluku chapter of the Indonesian Ulemas Council (MUI) said it was triggered by the murder of a man named Yamin whose body was found in the nearby Kampung Jawa area.

In Tobelo district on Halmahera, soldiers opened fire on armed villagers, killing at least three people.

"Three people among a crowd of about 200 armed Christians from Tobelo were shot dead," Rev. Z. Dungir, chief of Galela's Synode Masehi Injil Halmahera Church, said.

The crowd was heading for Soakobaru, Dokulamo and Roko villages to join some 300 Christians who remained there after the bloody clashes on Monday night.

The military put the death toll of what must be rated among the worst clashes in the long running sectarian conflict in the area at 117. Volunteer organizations put it as high as 155.

Ternate General Hospital and Bethesda Hospital were filled with no less than 250 injured locals, mostly suffering from gunshot and shrapnel wounds.

Local Christians deplored the participation of the Jihad Force sent from Java for the latest incident.

"It's clear that members of the Jihad Force were involved. We want to be left alone ... We wish outsiders would leave Maluku. Why isn't the government doing anything about it?" Rev. S.S. Duan of Synode Masehi Injil Halmahera Church said.

In Yogyakarta, Jihad Force spokesman Ayip Syafruddin confirmed the participation of his men in the Duma clash.

"Members of the Jihad Force fought with other Muslims in trying to repossess their property which was seized by Christians. We were simply defending ourselves," Ayip said.

He said he would leave for Maluku on Thursday to join the force's commander, Jafar Umar Thalib, who has been in the area for the past month.

In Jakarta, Minister of Defense Juwono Sudarsono said supporters of former president Soeharto, rather than the Soeharto clan itself, were behind the violence in Maluku, including in financing and supplying arms to the rioters.

"They are not the Cendana family but they are people who once served in Soeharto's administration," Juwono told reporters on the sidelines of a hearing with the House of Representatives.

Cendana, the name of the Central Jakarta street where Soeharto resides, is commonly used to refer to the former president and his family.

Juwono said people with strong financial backing had been fanning the conflicts in the hope of destabilizing the administration of President Abdurrahman Wahid.

He fell short of naming any person or organization but said the government could not arrest them in the absence of any concrete evidence.

"These people use `cell systems', sending money through middlemen. It's difficult to catch them," he said. (49/48/44/edt/dja/jun)