Unidentified gunmen kill one, injure four in Poso conflict
Badri Djawara and Yongker Rumthe, The Jakarta Post, Palu/Manado
One more person was killed and four others were injured by unidentified gunmen in Poso when they and other Muslim residents stormed the local military office on Tuesday to demand the release of six Muslim villagers who were reportedly kidnapped in Sepe Village, a few kilometers south of the town on Monday.
The five victims were apparently shot by someone on the grounds of Sion Church located near the military office.
Witnesses claimed that the people were shot as they ran toward the church, apparently responding to shouts of derision, also emanating from the church.
Sarifuddin, 30, was shot in the eye and died instantly while the four others identified as Ajir, Ali, Ratna and Salma suffered serious injuries and were rushed to Poso General Hospital.
The protesters, mostly relatives of the kidnapped people, demanded the military to return the six villagers who they believed to have been abducted by local police.
The six were captured after they and their heavily armed paramilitary comrades attacked Sepe on Monday. Two Christian villagers were murdered in the raid and more than 50 houses and a church were burned down.
The Muslim protesters at the military office in Poso also forced Lt. Col. Syamsu Rizal Harahap, chief of the Poso Military Subdistrict, and Capt. Deyen, commander of the Army's 711 Battalion in the regency, to recite an oath, with a Holy Koran above their heads, that they would swear to take strict actions against the soldiers who were allegedly involved in the abduction.
Despite their pledges, the two Army officers denied the allegation that several soldiers had abducted the six fighters.
The Muslims in the regency -- with the support of reportedly 7,000 Laskar Jihad paramilitary troops from Java -- have taken the law into their own hands since the withdrawal of three Army battalions and hundreds of security personnel of the Mobile Brigade from the regency last September.
Hundreds of local people, mostly Christian, have been killed in the most recent edition of the conflict, and hundreds of houses, churches and school buildings have been burned down by the paramilitary fighters, who are equipped with bulldozers, AK- 47 assault rifles and rocket launchers.
Religious leaders on both sides have had difficulty making contact with one another as the regency has been divided into Muslim and non-Muslim areas and a majority of Christians had taken refuge in Tentena, some 40 kilometers south of Poso.
The sectarian conflict has claimed more than 2,000 lives since it erupted in 1998 and reached its climax between May and June, 2000. The conflict was triggered by the 1998 regent election in which both conflicting camps nominated their own candidates.
Local people have been gripped with fresh fears of civil war since the armed Muslims from Java, who arrived about a month ago, have threatened to capture Tentena during Christmas and the local group, the Christian Red Force, threatens to assault predominantly Muslim Poso.
Coordinating Minister for Political and Security Affairs Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono and Home Minister Hari Sabarno were on their way to Poso to assess the situation in the regency as the central government was considering a state of emergency to curb the prolonged conflict.
Meanwhile, in Manado, North Sulawesi, more than 200 Poso students held a demonstration at the provincial legislature, demanding the government to force the Laskar Jihad to return to Java. They also accused the militant group of destroying their villages in Poso and demanded justice.
The Inter-religion Forum in the city also called on security authorities to deploy more security personnel to restore order in the strife-torn regency.