Ambon – Even as the military campaign to quell the separatist movement in Aceh shows no sign of coming to a speedy end, fresh trouble is brewing in another trouble spot – Maluku, where separatist and sectarian violence is threatening the province.

Maluku's Pattimura military commander Major-General Agustadi Sasongko Purnomo hinted there were groups that were interested in stirring up trouble and renewing the conflict in the province.

He identified two of them as the South Maluku Republic (RMS) separatist movement and its military wing, the Maluku Liberation Front (FKM). "Another is a group of people who will take advantage of the instability," the military chief told reporters after attending the 42nd anniversary celebration of the 733rd Infantry Battalion here.

He said the province still had to deal with the problems that ensued following the 1999 religious unrest, and this would need the full participation of all elements in society to prevent past conflicts from re-emerging. "Should the ideological, political, economic, social, cultural and security problems remain unsolved, they will trigger new conflicts here," Maj-Gen Agustadi said.

Quoting intelligence reports, the two-star general said the groups he was referring to included people who were behind the latest acts of terror in the provincial capital.

Ambon has been coping with the possibility of renewed terror following recent discoveries of bombs in public places. The latest incident was the discovery of an armed bomb in the Mardika area. The bomb failed to explode as the police bomb squad managed to deactivate it in time.

But the military chief said it was difficult to identify the motives behind the latest bomb threats as they were different from those of the RMS/FKM, which had tried to set up a separate state. "We're hunting these people ... We, therefore, would ask for public help and for them to contact us if they know the whereabouts of the perpetrators," Maj-Gen Agustadi said.

Maluku police chief Brigadier-General Bambang Sutrisno agreed and offered to help the military to uncover the groups involved. The military chief also hinted at the existence of some 300 weapons – both military standard issue and homemade – among the opposing groups in Ambon.

"We'll conduct spot raids on suspected places to confiscate these weapons," he said. "I hope those possessing weapons will voluntarily hand them over to us. And those who know that their neighbours have guns, ammunition or explosives should also report them to the nearest military or police post."

Serious sectarian violence broke out in Maluku in January 1999, which left more than 5,000 people dead and forced hundreds of thousands to flee. The central government in February last year brokered a peace deal between the two warring camps, but sporadic violence has continued.

More than 80 per cent of Indonesia's 212 million people are Muslims, but in some eastern regions, including Maluku, Christians make up about half the population or are in the majority.