Jakarta – Jakarta-based thugs are offering large rewards to hunt down and kill suspected black magic warlocks leading to eight horrific deaths so far, security officials alleged in a report Tuesday.

Authorities have discovered three million rupiah (428 dollars) is being offered for each alleged warlock killed, military commander Major General Sudi Silalahi said according to the Media Indonesia daily.

"It is up to you to take these findings about thugs from Jakarta seriously or not. But what is clear is that it is happening," the East Java commander said.

Eight people have died in six incidents in Malang district since November 8 in killings linked to the hunt against suspected warlocks, he added. Some of them were burnt or buried alive, he added.

The campaign is similiar to a mysterious outbreak of terror and killings in the East Java district of Banyuwangi early last year in which 150 people suspected of black magic were killed by masked and black-clad men.

The night-time murders became known as the "ninja" killings and caused widespread terror with people being targetted at random.

"We see that there is a systematic effort by provocateurs to goad the masses to even bigger collective activities," Malang district police chief Colonel Aryanto Sutadi said, according to Media Indonesia.

"They want to imitate the series of slaughters that were blamed on ninjas a year ago," he added. Some 125 people were arrested after the 1998 Banyuwangi murders but they have only been given lenient sentences at trial, and most were only accused of assisting in unplanned murders or possessing weapons. The main provocateurs have never been caught.

A member of the East Java parliament, Haruna Sumitro told the daily he believed the new violence against suspected warlocks had been intentionally rekindled to shift attention away from national issues.

In Banyuwangi prominent local religious members have also been targetted by the attacks and religious leaders have spoken of professionals being sent from Jakarta to either carry out or organise the killings.

Others have also accused the military of involvement in the violence or at least of consenting to the purge.

Sociologists and observers have said although there have been reported attacks on suspected black magic practicioners in East Java since the early 1980s, the number of cases rose in May 1998.