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Indonesian Christians
Take Cover
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The
Associated Press
Sunday
May 5, 2002 1:14 AM |
AMBON, Indonesia –– Hundreds of Christians in Indonesia's
eastern port city of Ambon were sheltering in police stations and
religious institutions Sunday after a mortar attack killed two
people.
Other residents were believed to be
hiding in the hills overlooking the capital of the Maluku Islands,
which has seen three years of bloody fighting between Muslims and
Christians.
About 9,000 people have been killed
in the region 1,600 miles east of Jakarta, since sectarian
violence started in 1999. Violence has flared in recent weeks
despite a peace deal signed in February.
Witnesses said 19 mortar shells
were lobbed into a Christian neighborhood in Ambon on Saturday.
Eleven exploded, killing two Christians and injuring at least
eight others. It was unclear who fired the mortars.
"The explosions happened when
we were eating. When the police said they were mortars, we
ran," said Ros Farfar, 45, who was taking refuge in the
offices of a local bishop.
The city, which is divided into
Christian and Muslim sections, was quiet Sunday.
Tensions were high Saturday
following news that the leader of a Muslim paramilitary group
active in the region was arrested in Surabaya, on Indonesia's main
island of Java. Jafar Umar Thalib, leader of the Laskar Jihad
group, was being held at police headquarters in Jakarta.
Police said Thalib was suspected of
inciting the recent upsurge in violence in the Maluku Islands,
including an attack that killed 13 Christians last Sunday.
Local Christian leaders have long
accused Thalib and his followers of stirring up the bloodshed.
The paramilitary group enjoys
strong support in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim
nation. It denies targeting Christians.
Christian youth in Ambon have also
formed militia groups and are believed to possess sophisticated
weaponry.
Fighting intensified in 2000 when
Laskar Jihad fighters arrived in the archipelago, also known as
the Spice Islands.
The group has rejected the peace
deal and is refusing to hand in its weapons.
Some analysts say Laskar Jihad has
links to al-Qaida, something that it and Indonesian officials
deny.
In Maluku – which has a
population of about 2 million – the balance between Christians
and Muslims is almost even.
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