The situation in Donggala, Central Sulawesi, remained tense on Friday following a bloody attack on a predominantly Christian village in the regency a day before.

Hundreds of villagers are now guarding the village with machetes, hand-made guns and spears and everybody who comes into the area is thoroughly checked.

More than 100 antiriot police were also deployed in the village in anticipation of further clashes after the incident.

A woman was killed and five others, one in critical condition, wounded in an attack by unidentified men on Thursday.

Noci, a 40-year-old mother of two, died hours after two unidentified men slashed her with the machetes, as they passed her on a motorcycle, while five others were still hospitalized at the Bala Keselamatan Hospital in Palu, capital of Central Sulawesi.

Noci, a resident of Maranatha Village suffered lethal injuries to her head, neck and back.

Maranatha is located in Dolo subdistrict, Donggala regency, 18 kilometers south of Palu, capital of Central Sulawesi.

An eyewitness, Eviyanti, 20, recounted on Friday how she was horrified when she came upon Noci bleeding terribly and attempting to crawl toward her screaming baby on the side of the road.

"I picked up the baby and the four-year old child and I cried out for help," she said, explaining that she was alarmed by the screaming baby while sitting on her verandah nearby.

She also said that she saw four men riding Yamaha and Suzuki motorcycles at a high rate of speed minutes before she heard the baby shrieking.

Antara news agency reported on Friday that officers at the Dolo police station said four attackers used machetes to slash their victims.

Noci's relatives said she was attacked as she was leaving the house with her two young children to meet her husband for dinner.

They also demanded that the police arrest the attackers and warned that it would likely snowball into a full-blown sectarian conflict between Christians and Muslims.

The five wounded victims were identified as Pianus, 18, Efrain, 30, Kanus, 30, Kalfin, 25, and Listin, 17.

Chief detective Sr. Comr. Tatang Somantri said that the police were still looking for the attackers and several police officers were investigating.

He said he did not know whether the attack was linked to January's deadly clash between the two villages.

A resident of Maranatha was killed and several others hurt when the village was attacked by Muslims from another village in January

"I hope Maranatha residents, including eyewitnesses, will be able to give us more detailed information so we can identify the attackers," he said.

He also said he was coordinating with the Donggala police to enhance security at a number of villages in the regency which were prone to Muslim-Christian battles.