Fresh violence erupts in Maluku's Piru
Fresh violence erupts in Maluku's Piru
JAKARTA (JP): Dozens of houses were set on fire on Thursday in
fresh clashes between Muslims and Christians in the West Seram
town of Piru, some 70 kilometers north of the riot-torn Maluku
capital of Ambon, Antara reported.
The news agency said the clashes were triggered by an attack
on Tuesday against a resident. The incident then erupted into
full-scale riots on Wednesday and Thursday.
Antara did not say, however, whether there were any casualties
of the violence.
The news agency said Police Elite Mobile Brigade personnel
from the Central Maluku capital of Masohi, some 100 kilometers
east of Piru, were rushed on Thursday to the town and that the
situation was under control.
Antara reported that houses in Poka area, some 20 kilometers
across Ambon bay, were set on fire on Thursday in the ongoing
communal clashes.
The agency said there were no injuries resulting from the
violence as security forces were able to stop further arson
attempts.
The Kompas daily quoted a local military police chief as
saying on Wednesday that authorities had detained four soldiers
for allegedly shooting to death last week 21 people in a locked
church in Galala area, east of Ambon.
Lt. Col. A. Sulaiman said the soldiers were suspects in the
Aug. 11 atrocity and that their case had been submitted to
military prosecutors.
Residents said earlier that gunmen, in military fatigue of the
Army's Strategic Reserves Command (Kostrad) troops, had shot
people locked inside the Yabok church.
Residents and local priests have said at least 25 and possibly
30 Christians were killed in the attack.
Sulaiman said 21 people were killed in the incident.
According to the military, the shooting may have taken place
after one soldier was shot dead by an unknown marksman while
attempting to prevent a conflict from breaking out between two
groups of people in the Galala area earlier on the same day.
Authorities have suspended all commercial civilian flights to
and from Ambon's Pattimura airport across the bay from the city
because of the violence, and handed over the airport to the
military.
At least 100 people have been killed and 400 injured in the
renewed violence which erupted in the city late last month.
Four battalions of reinforcements from outside Maluku have
been dispatched to the provincial capital to quell the violence.
More than 34,000 people are currently sheltering at 35
locations, including mosques, churches and military barracks.
Thousands of others have fled the province.
More than 400 people have been killed in communal clashes in
the province since violence first erupted in Ambon in mid-
January. (byg)