Jakarta – Thousands of people are fleeing to safer areas as fresh fighting between religious groups in the Maluku islands left many dead and more than 100 houses burnt or damaged.

Mr Muhammad Albar, a Muslim activist, said the bodies of 11 Muslims were found in Galela, a town on Halmahera in North Maluku, the biggest island in the region, AP reported.

He was quoted as saying that the victims were believed to have died in fighting between Muslims and Christians on March 5. That brought to 17 the number of Muslims killed in fighting that day, according to The Indonesian Observer. Many Christians were also killed in the March 5 fighting, but Mr Albar said he had no exact numbers. Nearly 2,000 people have perished since January last year when the sectarian violence erupted in Maluku, the Observer reported.

On Friday, new violence between Muslims and Christians killed 30 people in Halmahera and more than 100 houses damaged. Following Friday's riots, as many as 270 migrants, mostly from Java, who have lived on Halmahera for many years, are now being accommodated at Muhajirin Falajawa Mosque in Ternate municipality, locals and officials said yesterday.

On Saturday, around 550 migrants from Kaosub district left for Java by ship following the clashes. An official in Ternate said the exodus of refugees began after they had received threats from local people.