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Thousands flee violence as gunman
attack village in Indonesia
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AP
World Politics
Tue Aug 6,10:24 AM ET
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Thousands flee violence as gunman
attack village in Indonesia
JAKARTA, Indonesia - Two separate
attacks have driven 2,200 residents from their homes in Central
Sulawesi and raised the prospect of renewed religious fighting, a
district official said Tuesday.
The Indonesian province — about
1,600 kilometers (1,000 miles) northeast of Jakarta — is one of
two where Christians and Muslims have fought in recent years, but
had been quiet after a peace agreement was signed last year, the
official said.
But tensions increased in June
after a bus bomb killed four and injured 17 — nearly all of them
Christian.
Over the weekend a mob armed with
guns and homemade bombs attacked a church and dozens of houses in
the village of Matako, injuring five and leaving seven missing,
said the official, on condition of anonymity.
On Monday, another unidentified
group burned 21 houses in Malitu, the official said. It was
unclear whether the victims were Christians or Muslim.
The two attacks near the coast have
forced 2,200 people to flee their homes and increased tensions in
the religiously mixed area. Over two years, 1,000 were killed in
fighting in Central Sulawesi.
The attacks have come as
authorities try to keep the peace in Maluku province, which has
also seen fighting between Muslims and Christians.
Last month, unidentified assailants
threw a bomb into a crowded Christian market there, injuring 54
and testing a peace plan signed in February.
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