Ambon – Eight Muslims were killed and 19 injured Monday after an attack on an Indonesian military patrol in Ambon, a city ravaged by two years of Muslim-Christian violence.

Angered by recent killings of Muslim residents by members of a joint military battalion, Muslims armed with home-made weapons attacked a patrol unit in the Batumerah area Monday. The soldiers shot back killing three of the attackers, a local journalist said. Five other people – including a woman – were then killed during a raid by soldiers hunting for the attackers in the same area later Monday, the journalist said.

"The woman was going to take a morning prayer when she was hit by a stray bullet. Two other victims, a 16-year-old and a 20-year-old youth were shot dead because they were among the Muslim attackers." The cause of death of the other two male victims was not yet available, the journalist said, adding 19 people were wounded in the raid. "Some of the wounded ones have been taken to the Al-Fatah and the Ahlussunnah Wal Jamaah command posts," the journalist said.

On Friday, members of the battalion shot dead two Muslims riding on a motorbike in the Mardika area after one of its members, a marine, was shot in the arm by unknown assailants, the journalist said. The bodies of the two residents were tied to an armored car and taken away by the troops. Muslims accused the soldiers of holding their bodies. On Saturday marines also killed a Muslim resident in Batumerah, the Republika daily said.

More than 5,000 people have been killed in clashes between Muslims and Christians in the Maluku islands, of which Ambon is the main city.

The violence first broke out in Ambon city in January 1999 when a trivial dispute between a Christian driver and a Muslim degenerated into violence between the two communities. The violence quickly spread to