More bodies found in Central Maluku village

AMBON, Maluku (JP): The death toll from the weekend violence in Uraur village, Kairatu district, Central Maluku has increased with the discovery of seven bodies, residents said on Monday.

Local residents found the bodies garbed in the white long- sleeved robes commonly worn by members of the Muslim group Laskar Jihad.

"We also found three more people who were seriously injured," a resident who requested anonymity said, adding that a police officer was injured when he tried to protect the Kairatu district head from armed attackers.

Saturday's attack resulted in the death of one Uraur resident and the wounding of another. The witness said 146 houses were burned during the incident.

Civil Emergency Post spokesman John Tomasowa said on Monday that one platoon of soldiers had been dispatched to Kairatu district to restore order.

"Forty-five other soldiers were sent from the Central Maluku Military District Command to the demarcation zones to prevent the armed attackers from reaching other nearby villages," he said.

Tomasowa added that he had received reports that similar violence had erupted in the neighboring village of Waimital, some three kilometers away from Uraur.

Waimital used to host transmigrant settlers until it was taken over by Laskar Jihad forces as their base.

The attacks had encouraged residents of the neighboring villages of Kairatu and Kamariang to join forces in resisting the attackers, whom the villagers believed were linked to Laskar Jihad.

In another violent incident in Utha village on Kesui island, Central Maluku on Sunday, a church and three houses were destroyed, while three residents were wounded.

Separately, some 250 residents of Wayame village in Teluk Ambon Baguala district abandoned their homes and took shelter in the Benteng area of Nusaniwe district, following shooting and bomb attacks that razed two houses on Saturday evening.

Tomasowa said all the residents had been accommodated at Nehemia church in Benteng, adding that the province's Natural Disaster Coordinating Office had sent food supplies to the area.

The military were seen escorting local residents taking shelter in the nearby forest.

Tomasowa also disclosed that fresh attacks broke out on Monday morning in the Mardika, Batumerah and Karang Panjang areas of Sirimau district in Ambon.

"A group of people gathered in the Batumerah area and later launched bomb attacks. Military personnel in a nearby security post had to fire warning shots to disperse the attackers," he said. No fatalities were reported in this latest incident. (49/lup)