Jakarta – Thousands of people stormed an Indonesian police station in a West Java town where officers refused to hand over four suspected "ninja" killers, press reports said yesterday. Twelve policemen were injured in Kuningan as they fought off attackers with tear gas and rubber bullets in the disturbances on Wednesday.

About 200 people have been killed in murders committed by "ninja" attackers dressed in black. A large number of suspected murderers have also been killed, some by lynch mobs. The killings have raised tensions throughout Java, with some reports saying that there is a political link.

A neighbourhood watch in the Garawangi sub-district detained the four men at the centre of the latest disturbances early on Wednesday and took them to the local police station, the Media Indonesia daily reported. The four had been driving around the village in a car when they were stopped and challenged by villagers. The men could not say what they were doing at that time of night.

The watch group returned to the police station a few hours later and demanded that the four men be handed over to them again for questioning, the daily said. Police refused and the increasing number of onlookers were further angered when police transferred the four to Kuningan district police.

Thousands of people flocked to the district police headquarters demanding that the four be handed over. They pelted the building with bricks, stones and bottles when police there refused. Scores of Muslim scholars have fallen victim to the "ninja" killings, which initially targeted people suspected of being traditional Javanese warlocks.