JAKARTA (JP): Tension rise in Ambon capital of strife torn
Maluku as one person was killed and at least two others injured in
a bomb blast on Saturday, reports said.
The fatality, identified as Stenly Maitimu, died in the blast, Antara
reported.
The blast went off while rival mobs were hurling stones at each
other in the city's Trikora district, the report said.
AFP quoted hospital officials in Ambon as saying that
several youths were treated for bomb shrapnel injuries.
It is the second deadly blast since warring Christians and
Muslims signed a peace pact in February, and comes one week after
the massacre of 13 Christian villagers in a pre-dawn raid on
Ambon's outskirts of Soya.
A bomb blast rocked Ambon on April 3, killing at least four
people and triggering the mob torching of the governor's
office.Ambon, the capital of the island chain province of Maluku
in the east of archipelago, is divided into Christian and Muslim
quarters as a result of three years of deadly sectarian fighting
which has left more than 9,000 dead.
After the rival sides signed a government-brokered truce in
February a brief period of peace descended over the region once
known as the Spice Islands and fabled for its abundance of nutmeg
and cloves.
But since early April a string of violent incidents has
shattered the fragile peace, peaking with the April 28 massacre.
Tensions were further heightened around the April 25
anniversary of an outlawed, predominantly Christian separatist
group, the Republic of South Maluku (RMS).
Blasts rang out across the city, a torch was churched, and
security forces fired warning shots after RMS supporters defied
bans and took to the streets. Several people were injured in
themayhem.
Calls for martial law to be imposed in Maluku following the
April 28 massacre were rejected by Jakarta after an assessment
team sent to the region concluded it was not immediately needed.
