AMBON, Indonesia (17 June 2001) -- The death toll in the Maluku islands rose to 20 as fighting continued Saturday between security forces and Muslim militias, officials said. Hundreds of police and soldiers raided Muslim-controlled parts of the city of Ambon on Thursday and Friday, military commander Brig. Gen. Made Yasa. Nineteen civilians and one soldier were killed, and dozens of others - including a TV cameraman - were injured when Muslim militants shot at them with arrows. The city remained tense Saturday. Soldiers patrolled the streets, but there were no reports of renewed violence. The attack came two days after a group of masked men raided a Christian neighborhood, killing five people. Rights activist Malik Selang said the fighting started when security forces tried to confiscate weapons from Muslim paramilitary groups. The militiamen refused to hand over guns and other homemade weapons, and instead attacked the soldiers. The Maluku islands, 1,600 miles northeast of Jakarta, has been wracked by fighting between Christians and Muslims since January 1999. At least 5,000 people have been killed. The archipelagic region was known as the Spice Island during Dutch colonial rule. | | No other God but Allah Meanwhile, in Aceh province where rebels have been fighting for an independent homeland on the northern tip of Sumatra island for 25 years, three guerrilla fighters were killed Saturday in a gunbattle with security forces, military officials said. The latest deaths brought to 613 the number of people killed in Aceh this year. In unrelated violence in West Java province, four people were killed in fighting between rival villages in the past few days, the state Antara news agency reported Saturday. |
