Nine people killed in Luwu riot

Nine people killed in Luwu riot

MAKASSAR, South Sulawesi (JP): Nine people were killed, dozens
of others were injured and 40 houses were set ablaze early on
Wednesday in a rampage involving residents of two hamlets near
the village of Padang Sappa, Bupon district, Luwu regency, some
430 kilometers north of here.

A police officer said that one of the victims was a boy of
under ten years old. "He was hacked to death," the officer at the
Luwu Police precinct said.

Locals said the fatal fight between the residents of Butta
Batu and Padang Subur hamlets started with a quarrel between two
groups of people which led to a mass brawl.

"No one knows how the fight started or who initiated it. The
two warring camps used homemade rifles and traditional weapons
including machetes and swords," a local, who requested anonymity,
said.

Police speculated that ethnic sentiment was behind the deadly
fracas, adding that the 40 houses set ablaze were distributed
among both feuding groups.

The bodies of the dead were being stored at Sawerigading
hospital in Palopo while the injured, including two men with
gunshot wounds to the head and body, were being treated at the
same hospital.

Hundreds of people fled their homes and were now being
accommodated at Luwu Police station.

Surface transportation between Makassar and Palopo was
practically crippled following the incident.

Luwu Police spokesman Adj. Comr. Muh Tang said that two more
police platoons from Luwu had been deployed to quell the
disturbances. (27/31/sur)