Marianne Kearney, Jakarta – At least two people died and more than 200 houses were torched in a sudden flash of violence in the North Maluku islands, shattering an 18-month period of calm in the province described as a success story in resolving sectarian conflict.

While violence continues on southern Maluku islands such as Ambon, sectarian fighting has not racked the northern province since June 2000.

Indeed, the southern island of Haruku witnessed a clash on Wednesday when youths from two neighbouring villages attacked each other, two people were killed and another two wounded, said the state Antara news agency.

News of the fight – apparently over a trivial dispute – sparked clashes in Ambon where another youth was killed, said Antara.

But it was the violent attack in the northern part of Morotai, an island off the north-western tip of Halmahera island in North Maluku, which took local journalists and other observers by surprise.

Armed men attacked three villages and killed two people last Sunday, according to a journalist from Radio Hikmah in Ternate, the capital of North Maluku. The villages of Pangeo, Kusobo and Soara were torched, gutting 210 houses, one mosque, three churches and a school.

Police say the security situation has since returned to normal but neither they nor the security forces have said who was behind the attacks. "These three villages were never part of the conflict before and all were places where Christians and Muslims all lived together well," said Noval, a journalist from Radio Hikmah.

Christian and Muslim leaders interviewed by the local media have said they did not believe the attacks were religiously motivated, as both sides suffered.

Aid organisations said they were taken aback because North Maluku has had the most successful reconciliation between Muslim and Christian residents. "We are all really confused as to what went on and trying to understand why it happened," said one aid worker.

Unlike in Ambon, where hardline Muslim and Christian groups have been blamed for provoking violence, there are no longer any militant groups in North Maluku who could have sparked the conflict.

Communal violence between Muslims and Christians first erupted in Ambon in January 1999 and quickly spread to the other islands. Since then, it is estimated to have led to more than 5,000 deaths and created more than 500,000 refugees.

Although violence erupted in North Maluku in late 1999 and it witnessed several big massacres in June 2000, the conflict has subsided. Several hundred people were killed in that period, and thousands of refugees fled to Sulawesi.

Peace was restored after militant groups were expelled in 2000 and the regional government moved quickly to establish control over conflict-torn districts. Last year, many of the refugees began returning to Ternate and Halmahera.

"The two communities have been reconciled, people are returning to their homes and rebuilding their lives," said one Western observer. The Maluku islands, which used to be a single province, were split into two in Jan 2000.

Both provinces have been under a civilian state of emergency since last year.