At least 116 people were killed and scores wounded in an attack by Muslims on a Christian village on the island of Halmahera in Indonesia's Molucca islands, police said yesterday.
A force of about 4,000 Muslim fighters attacked Christian residents of Duma village in the sub-district of Galela on Halmahera island in the North Moluccas on Monday morning, a police officer in neighbouring Ternate island said.
At least 108 Christians and eight of the Muslim attackers were killed and 78 others, including an army soldier, were wounded, the officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity, told journalists.
More than 200 homes and a place of worship were burned down, the policeman said, citing a telegram from Galela. He said both sides used home-made weapons.
The fighting stopped after army troops and marines separated the warring parties, but the situation remained tense, the state Antara news agency said.
The wave of bloody sectarian violence which has plagued the Molucca islands for almost a year and a half started in the capital of Ambon in January 1999 and quickly spread to surrounding areas.
Since the clashes began, more than 4,000 people have been killed, thousands of homes and buildings gutted, and almost half a million people have been forced to flee to other islands and provinces.
Yesterday the government said the violence had driven 107,910 families or 486,797 people out of their homes into refugee centres. Another 11,065 refugees have already been resettled by the government.
The military last week named a new military commander for the Moluccas, a Balinese Hindu, Col I Made Yasa, to replace Brig Gen Max Tamaela, amid accusations that some sections of the military were not neutral in the conflict.
Governor Saleh Latuconsina believes the arrival of more than 2,000 well trained self-styled "jihad warriors" from the island of Java in May has fuelled the bitter cycle of revenge in the conflict by giving new heart to Muslims there.
In an interview in May, Latuconsina said he felt that the fact that the jihad warriors were allowed to travel to the Moluccas pointed to powerful "New Order" (pro-Suharto) forces trying to keep the violence going.