Reuters in Jakarta – Indonesia's military said on Friday it would send hundreds of crack troops to the bloodied Malukus to help quell widespread violence between Muslims and Christians.

Army spokesman Colonel Panggih Sundoro said 600 soldiers from an airborne unit of the Kostrad strategic reserve and an infantry unit would fly to the Malukus, or spice islands, where possibly thousands have died in the worst bloodshed this month. Thousands of extra soldiers have already been sent to the islands, home to about two million people and spread across 86,000 square kilometres.

There were no immediate reports of fresh violence in the islands on Friday and Colonel Panggih said life was returning to normal in the capital, Ambon, about 2,300km east of Jakarta. "Everything is open as usual ... markets, schools, and the streets," he said.

Troops are still searching for hundreds of people missing on Buru island, west of Ambon, most of them believed to be hiding in thick jungle after the latest violence.

Authorities say more than 1,500 people have died in the past year in the once-idyllic region in Indonesia's worst religious war. Human rights groups put the death toll at thousands.