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44 dead in new religious violence in Indonesia's Malukus |
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May 31, 2000
North Maluku military chief. Lt. Col. Sukarwo said suspected Muslim militants attacked the village on Halmahera island before dawn on Monday. In addition to the 44 killed in the attack, at least 102 people were injured.
Sukarwo said the military believed the attackers came from a neighboring island and were members of a Muslim fighting force known as Lasker Jihad, or Holy War Troops. The group recently arrived in the area from Indonesia's main island of Java.
Monday's attack was almost identical to a pre-dawn raid last week in the same area which left 34 civilians dead. Reports from Maluku's provincial capital of Ambon said another 17 people were killed on Tuesday on Halmahera. However, Sukarwo could not confirm this.
North Maluku, 2,600 kilometers (1,600 miles) northeast of Jakarta, and Maluku provinces, collectively known as Spice Islands during the Dutch colonial era, have been plagued by sectarian violence which first broke out sixteen months ago. More than 2,500 people have died in clashes since.
Halmahera has been one of the worst-affected islands. About 800 people died in clashes there at the end of last year. A local priest on Halmahera island, who identified himself only as Hadi, said at least 52 Christians had died in the pre-dawn attack Monday. He said many of those killed were slaughtered while they slept. About 300 houses were also torched.
An Islamic activist on the nearby Ternate island, said at least three Muslim attackers were also killed and seven others injured in the raid, after the Christians started fighting back. Laskar Jihad is believed to have infiltrated more than 2,000 Islamic paramilitaries into the Malukus despite repeated assurances by the government in Jakarta that they would be prevented from fomenting trouble in the region.
Their leader Jafar Umar Thalib, who is believed to have close ties to the former regime of ex-dictator Suharto, has vowed to wage a holy war against the Christian community.
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