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Fighting erupts in Indonesia's spice islands: four killed

JAKARTA: Fighting erupted in Indonesia's bloodied spice islands on Sunday, killing at least four people on the eve of a visit by Vice-President Megawati Sukarnoputri to look into continuing violence there.

Unconfirmed reports put the death toll from the latest clashes at up to 30 people.

A lawyer for a Christian support group said the latest Christian-Muslim bloodshed occurred when a group of Muslims backed by some soldiers attacked three villages in the tiny island of Haruku, east of the spice islands capital of Ambon.

"Three Christian villages were attacked this morning by Muslim mob who were aided by some soldiers," Semmy Waileruny, who represents the Communion of Indonesian Churches for Moluccas, told Reuters from Ambon city, 2,300 km (1,440 miles) east of Jakarta.

One local resident monitoring two-way radio traffic among Christian neighbourhood watch posts put the toll at 30.

No independent confirmation of the details was immediately available, but a chief on the neighbouring island of Saparua confirmed clashes had taken place.

Waileruny said the fighting had subsequently stopped.

It was the latest outbreak in bitter feuding between Christians and Muslims that erupted a year ago and has continued unchecked.

Police say more than 1,500 people have died in the remote, scattered islands. But human rights groups say thousands have been killed, including many women and children.

The three-month-old government of President Abdurrahman Wahid faces mounting criticism over its failure to stem the killing, despite sending in thousands of extra police and soldiers.

Megawati, who Wahid has put in charge of restoring peace, will lead a delegation of eight ministers and several senior police and army officers on a two day visit from Monday.

A similar visit by Wahid and Megawati in December was followed almost immediately by some of the worst killing in the religious war.

Last week, the violence in the spice islands, or Moluccas, spilled over into the tourist island of Lombok, near Bali.

Some Indonesians accuse the military of failing to suppress the fighting, or even inciting it to shore up the armed forces' political power and pressure civilian politicians.-Reuters