Two more people killed in Ambon

AMBON, Maluku: An army sergeant and a 15-year-old girl were killed by unidentified people in separate places in Ambon on Tuesday.

Eyewitnesses told The Jakarta Post that the plainclothes First Sgt. Bram Makatita was attacked by a mob when he was walking on Jl. Pasar Mardika at about 5 p.m. local time. Makatita was a member of the 1504 Military District Command.

"He tried to escape but the angry mob overwhelmed him and beat and stabbed him to death," one of the people surrounding the body said. The body was left on the roadside before being taken to a nearby hospital.

At about 10 a.m. a teenager, identified as Nurfiah, was shot dead by an unknown man in Kampung Jawa. Two army members rushed her to the Al Fatah hospital soon after the shooting.

The army members speculated that the girl had been taken to the residential area before being shot. No one was arrested for the killings.

Ethnic and religious clashes have ravaged Ambon and have claimed more than 500 lives. Efforts have been made to curb the fatal clashes, but the government has found it difficult to pacify the warring groups.

The increasing number of victims has reportedly forced local hospitals to evacuate patients outside of Ambon. (37/sur)