Jakarta – Eight people have been killed and some 100 homes burned down in the latest outbreak of Muslim-Christian violence in Indonesian's province of North Maluku, reports said Friday.

The clashes in Tidore island in the district of Central Halmahera on Wednesday erupted following the distribution of leaflets by an unidentified group calling for an uprising, the official Antara news agency said.

The violence forced some 700 people to seek refuge in the district's military installations, Antara said.

Some 70 members of the police mobile brigade unit have been flown from neighboring North Sulawesi province to the island to contain the unrest. Police and military on the island could not be reached for comment.

The Maluku islands, known as the spice islands, have been rocked by bloody sectarian clashes since the beginning of the year.

It started in Ambon, the capital of the Malukus, and later spread to other islands. Tens of thousands of people have fled to other provinces.

More than 200 people have been killed and more than 600 injured since the violence resurfaced in late July after a few months' lull. The first wave of Muslim-Christian violence in the islands between January and March left about 350 people dead.