Ambon – At least 10 people were killed when fighting between Muslims and Christians erupted Friday in the eastern Indonesian island of Saparua, a Muslim official said.
Thamrin Elly, the coordinator of the Muslim task force, said dozens of other people were also injured in the fighting that broke out after Friday prayers.
"Eight Muslims and at least two Christians were killed in the fighting between Christians from Nolot villages and Muslims from Iha," Elly said. "A number of houses were also set ablaze."
He added that the Indonesian navy dispatched two warships to block armed infiltrators from other parts of the archipelago from reaching Saparua, which is located just east of Maluku's main island of Ambon, 2,600 kilometers northeast of Jakarta.
The latest deaths brought to 22 the number of people killed since Monday, when the latest round of sectarian bloodshed broke out. Three Muslims and two Christians were killed on Thursday.
Maluku and neighboring North Maluku provinces, collectively known as the Spice Islands during Dutch colonial rule, have been plagued by fighting between Christians and Muslims that has claimed nearly 4,000 lives since January 1999.
'Black magic' woman beheaded
Straits Times - September 24, 2000
Jakarta – Murders of alleged practitioners of black magic are on the rise in the west Java city of Cianjur, with the latest victim beheaded and mutilated.
Dozens of people dressed in white robes entered a house early on Friday and pushed 70-year-old Radi onto the floor, accusing her of being a witch, reported the Indonesian Observer.
Her husband Wirya tried to protect his wife but was kicked and punched until he lost consciousness. The white-clad mob, apparently Muslim extremists, gouged out Radi's eyes, chopped off her head and then cut off her limbs. They then left the house nonchalantly, pausing only to carelessly toss parts of the severed body onto the road, said the Observer.
Locals, who wished to remain anonymous for fear of retribution, said some members of the community believed Radi had put spells on a few people, causing them to fall ill.
Over the past two years, sporadic murder sprees have targeted alleged shamans in various parts of Java. The worst killings occurred from mid-to late-1998 in the east Java city of Banyuwangi and surrounding areas.
Well-organised groups of thugs dressed in black as ninjas would attack certain Muslim clerics, accusing them of being evil wizards. Although the spate of killings eventually subsided, alleged black magic practitioners are still hacked to death intermittently.
Often they are branded as shaman by business rivals who want to take over their land or commercial enterprises. Sometimes, a community member, jealous of a person's status, may declare him or her to be an evil sorcerer and round up locals to kill him or her.
"People have cruelly been murdering other people, simply because they hear that someone has been branded as a shaman," Unang Margana, the head of the Indonesian Legal Aid Foundation's branch in Cianjur, told Antara on Friday.