Renewed clash erupts in Poso

PALU, Central Sulawesi: Uneasy calm returned to the town of Poso in Central Sulawesi on Wednesday, following a fight between locals from Sayo Atas and Sayo Bawah subdistricts which left a policeman injured earlier in the day.

Local police chief Lt. Col. Achmad Abdi said that Second Sgt. Rudi was wounded when trying to disperse the fighting residents from Sayo Atas and Sayo Bawah.

"Hundreds of armed mobs from both villages were attacking each other. That was about when somebody inside the crowd shot officer Rudi's leg with an assembled gun," Achmad told The Jakarta Post by phone.

The officer was rushed to a clinic at the local police headquarters, he added.

As of 9 p.m. local time tension still gripped Poso, which is located about 224 kilometers southeast of here, with thousands of people reportedly gathering at Sepe village.

"The security is on full alert now and we will immediately disperse any group of crowd assembling in the streets," he said. (edt)