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Fresh troops arrive in Indonesian islands

JAKARTA: Five hundred soldiers from East Java have arrived on Indonesian's Morotai island to reinforce local security forces in the wake of bloody religious clashes, a report said on Saturday.

The island is part of the Spice Islands where some 300 people were killed in just three days of violence between Muslims and Christians earlier this week.

The soldiers from the Army's Kostrad strategic command arrived at the old World War II airport of Daruba on Friday and will be deployed to the northern half of Halmahera island, the Antara news agency said.

One company of soldiers from central Java and two companies of police from Borneo have already been deployed to reinforce local security contingents following the clashes which began late on Monday.

The violence on Halmahera was the latest to hit the Maluku islands, known as the Spice islands, since Muslims and Christians began killing each other in January last year.

The clashes have already killed more than 1,134 people across the province since then, the military said.

More than 2,300 have been injured over 8,000 buildings, including places of worship, have been damaged or burned.

Tens of thousands of people have fled to neighbouring provinces or are sheltering at military installations. AFP