Jenny Grant, Jakarta – Indonesian officials have confirmed that at least 130 people died in a massive shopping center fire on the island of Borneo on Friday. As Jenny Grant reports from Jakarta, the blaze began during a riot on the last day of campaigning ahead of Thursday's general election.

Rescue workers at the Mitra Plaza Shopping Center said Sunday they have recovered scores of bodies from the site of the blaze in the South Kalimantan Capital, Banjarmasin.

Officials say most of the dead are believed to be looters. Witnesses said rioters set alight a bank in the complex, trapping people inside, who were too afraid to leave when police and military arrived.

Police only began removing the charred bodies Sunday because the shopping and cinema complex was still burning a day after the fire began.

The rioting started at noon Friday when clashes broke out between supporters of the ruling Golkar party and the Moslem-backed United Development Party.

The two groups attacked each other with stones and knives. Thousands of people later joined the attack and then ran amok in the town of 400,000 people, burning shops, houses and cars.

The state Antara News Agency reported Sunday that eight shopping centers, 130 houses, over 80 vehicles and three hotels were burned in the riots. Four people died from stab wounds and burns during the disturbances and about 100 others were injured.

Isa Ansari, and evacuee from one of the burnt out hotels told VOA Sunday that he and his friends were trapped in the Kalimantan Hotel, while looters smashed and ransacked shops below. He said the hotel was then set ablaze and 59 hotel guests were forced to flee.

Armed forces spokesman Brigadier General Slamet Supriadi said 181 people were arrested in the riots. The riots broke out on the last day of general election campaigning. The campaign month was marred by clashes in towns across Java. Indonesians go to the polls this Thursday.