Jakarta – Indonesian police said on Saturday they had killed three men and arrested five suspected of involvement in a string of deadly attacks in Central Sulawesi province.

The suspects were captured after a gunfight near the town of Poso, about 1,600 km northeast of Jakarta, on Friday night, Central Sulawesi police spokesman Agus Sugianto told Reuters via telephone from Poso. "We arrested a total of eight men, three of who were killed in a gunfight last night," said Sugianto.

Ten people died and dozens of houses as well as a church were destroyed in attacks on four mostly Christian villages last weekend, raising fears of an upsurge in violence between Muslims and Christians in the region following months of relative peace.

Police said they had seized homemade rifles, pistols and ammunition at the scene. Sugianto said officials from Jakarta were heading to the site for further investigation.

Officials said earlier the recent violence had prompted authorities to order troop reinforcements into the area. Sugianto said police were hunting more suspects, but did not elaborate.

At least 2,000 people have died since the conflict erupted in 1999. About 85 percent of Indonesia's 210 million people are Muslim. The rest are Christian, Hindu, Buddhist, or animist.