Ambon – Troops were issued with shoot-on-sight orders and three people were shot dead by snipers yesterday, as Christians called for UN troops to intervene in the escalating sectarian violence in Ambon. Meanwhile, trapped civilians tried to flee the troubled city.

Two soldiers and a civilian were shot dead by snipers early yesterday in a downtown area of Ambon, in the Maluku islands, with the two military victims taken to the Perigi Lima military hospital. One of the snipers was arrested and is believed to be a member of the police, military sources told AFP.

The shoot-on-sight orders follow three days of violence which left at least 32 dead, more than 100 injured and scores of houses including a church burned in Muslim-Christian clashes. The three killed early yesterday brought the total known dead to 35.

"The concrete action is to prevent riots from spreading ... therefore the shoot-on- sight order which I had instructed ... is to be implemented," the state Antara news agency quoted Maluku military commander Brigadier General Max Tamaela as saying in Ambon.

People trying to flee the city are allegedly being told the sole commercial flights to the city's Pattimura Airport had been cancelled until Sunday, and that the airport was closed.

However, an airport employee told AFP that although the daily Merpati Nusantara airlines flight had been cancelled, the airport was still officially open, though almost impossible to reach by road. "We will wait for further developments in the situation to decide whether or not we can resume flights," the official, Mr Suwardi, said. One Merpati employee in Ambon was allegedly hacked to death by Muslims armed with long swords while on his way to work.

Mr Sammy Waileruni, a lawyer at the Maranatha Protestant church, told AFP by phone late yesterday that the churches in Ambon had sent a letter by fax to the United Nations pleading for intervention.

"We have faxed the letter to the UN Security Council and are urging them to give aid in the form of security troops to protect the people of Ambon. We also called on the UN to look into Amien Rais' involvement behind the Jihad Force movement. We strongly believe that he is the mastermind behind the Jihad's presence in Ambon," he added. Dr Amien Rais is the Chairman of the national People's Consultative Assembly in Jakarta.

Ambon's police headquarters was packed with 2,115 Christian refugees, mostly women and children who had fled from the Uhuru area outside the city. The wave of sectarian violence which has plagued the Malukus for over a year began in Ambon in January 1999 and more than 3,000 people have been killed and hundreds of thousands forced to flee.