More dead after latest Ambon conflict
AMBON, Maluku (JP): At least one person was killed and another wounded in a brawl between two groups of farmers on remote Saparua Island on Thursday, police said.
But a staff member at a state hospital on the island, about a three-hour boat ride from Ambon, put the number of fatalities at three, with dozens of others injured. He said two villagers identified as Gany Sanaky and Obet Kaplale and a member of the local police, Corp. Tjao Huwaa, died in the clash which involved residents of Ulath and Sirisori villages.
Hospital staff said Saparua Police chief Second Lt. A.R. Tatuh, his Elite Police Mobile Brigade counterpart, Second Lt. Noija, and dozens of people from the two villages were being treated for stab wounds.
There was no immediate report of arrests following the incident.
Tension prevailed on the island until late in the afternoon as sporadic clashes were reported.
Maluku Police spokesman Maj. Jekriel Philips said here the identity of the resident killed during the clash remained unknown.
He dismissed speculations that religious issues were behind the latest violence which has seized the archipelagic province. He said the conflict was triggered by a dispute over attacks on 300 clove trees belonging to 11 farmers.
"It was a common fight, and we have called on people in the province to keep their cool," he said.
Ulath is predominantly Christian, while in Sirisori Muslim and Christian populations are evenly balanced.
Months of conflicts between Christians and Muslims across the spice islands have claimed over 400 lives since they first erupted in January.
A peace pact between the groups was agreed on in May, but violence has continued. A mass brawl between school students exploded last week, but nobody was killed.
Jekriel said the most recent clash, which broke out at around 7 a.m. local time, should have been anticipated because there was an earlier alert from the military, police and Saparua district chief that tension was on the rise after security authorities failed to take measures against alleged attackers of the clove trees.
"The way the fight exploded was a surprise. It broke out all of a sudden," Jekriel said.
Maluku Police chief Col. Bugis Saman and a reinforcement force composed of some 60 Elite Police Mobile Brigade and 30 infantry from the Maluku Military command had arrived in Saparua, the birthplace of national hero Pattimura.
The Mobile Brigade were part of hundreds of security personnel dispatched here from East Java and Sulawesi to replace Marine Corps and Army Strategic Reserve Command soldiers, who were posted here shortly after communal clashes started in January.
Ambon was calm despite rumors of renewed rioting following the brawl in Saparua. Rain drenched the Maluku capital throughout the day.
Separately, in Central Lampung, order was restored on Thursday following a mass brawl overnight between residents from Payungrejo, Nyukangharjo and Payungbatu villages and their Negeri Kepayungan neighbors. A man identified as Herman, 38, was killed in the clash.
Lampung Police spokesman Maj. John Hutabarat told Antara Herman was beaten to death after being accused of provoking an earlier conflict between the villagers on Tuesday.(48/amd)