Fresh unrest in Maluku

AMBON, Maluku: Four people were injured and several houses damaged when fresh unrest broke out in the West Seram district of Central Maluku on Monday.

The victims were wounded during an exchange of stones by the disputing parties.

The fray reportedly involved two warring groups known locally as the red camp and the white camp. The cause of this latest incident remains unclear.

Activists in Piru, the capital of West Seram district, said the four people injured in the violence were being treated at a hospital in Ambon, the capital of Maluku.

In Ambon, security forces confiscated some 155 detonators from a man identified as Rasyid Any in a joint operation on Monday afternoon.

Ambon military police deputy chief Maj. Djuhendi S. said Rasyid was arrested near the Galla and Hative Kecil areas of Ambon.

"We are now searching for two of his accomplices who escaped the raid," Suhendy said.

Rasyid will be charged under Article 1 of State Emergency Law No. 12/1951 for the possession of explosive devices without a permit, Djuhendi said. The article carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. (48/edt)