Ambon – Fresh outbreaks of violence between Moslems and Christian Wednesday killed eight people and injured six others in two separate islands in the riot-torn Maluku province, police said.

Four people, two Moslems and two Christians, were killed and two seriously injured in clashes near the airport in the city of Ambon early Wednesday, Ambon police chief Lieutenant Colonel Ghufron told journalists.

The clash involved residents from the predominantly Moslem Laha and Tawiri areas across the bay from Ambon. Ghufron said the victims were killed and injured by machetes, arrows and home-made bombs.

He said four people were also killed in communal clashes in neighboring Saparua island, but he gave no details. But a priest in Ambon said the violence in Saparua island, in central Maluku, claimed three lives.

They were shot dead by troops trying to quell the clashes between residents of predominantly Christian Hulaliu village and Moslems from Portoharia village.

"Two Christians from Hulaliu were shot dead and another death is from Portoharia," Patinaya, a priest at the Maranatha Protestant church told AFP by phone. The troops also injured three others, he said. Patinaya said the clash in Saparua also involved villagers from neighboring Haruku island.

More than 400 people have been killed in Ambon and other Maluku islands in Moslem-Christian unrest since the start of the year. Tens of thousands of people have fled to other provinces and there has been widespread destruction. The communal violence resurfaced in late July after a lull of a few months.