Indonesian Christians shot
2001-07-05 18:43
Jakarta - Indonesian police shot and killed five Christians on Thursday when they tried to attack a Muslim neighbourhood in Indonesia's central Sulawesi province, an officer said.
The killings occurred in the town of Poso, where on Tuesday a Christian gang hacked to death 18 Muslims, including women and children.
Lieutenant Colonel Jasman Baso Opu said officers opened fire on dozens of assailants armed with long knifes in Toyado district on the outskirts of the town.
He said the attackers were wearing red bandanas and scarves. Warring Christians in the region use the colour red to identify
themselves, he added.
In May last year, around 200 people died in religious fighting in the region, 1 600km northeast of Jakarta.
Muslim-Christian clashes have continued sporadically.
Meanwhile in Aceh, another violence-wracked province, five masked men killed a woman in her house in the northern town of
Lhokseumawe, police said.
Also in the north of the province, security forces shot and killed a separatist rebel on Wednesday, said police Major Sudarsono, who like many Indonesians uses only one name.
Separatists from the Free Aceh Movement have been fighting for 26 years for an independent homeland for their oil- and gas-rich province on the northern tip of Sumatra island.
More than 870 people have been killed this year in Aceh, 1 770km northwest of Jakarta.
Also on Thursday in eastern Indonesia, police fired warning shots and tear gas canisters to disperse stone-throwing protesters following the election for governor in North Maluku, witnesses said.
At least two security personnel and some protesters were injured, mostly by rocks.
Hundreds of demonstrators, who had supported two losing candidates, threw rocks at security forces near the parliament building to protest the voting results in the province's capital Ternate, 2 650km northeast of Jakarta. - Sapa-AP
- SAPA