Jakarta – Two people died and 19 others were wounded on Tuesday when a ferry carrying 100 Christians was attacked in the bay of Indonesia's strife-torn city of Ambon, hospital staff and a report said. The two died of gunshot wounds, a duty anesthetist at the intensive care unit of the state Haulussy hospital told AFP.

"Currently being treated at the ICU are one female and two males, all of them victims of the boat shooting incident at the bay," the anesthetist, who identified himself only as Michael, told AFP by telephone. "Two people, a male and a female, died in the incident. They were both still alive when admitted, but they didn't make it," he said.

Quoting witnesses, Michael said the attack took place at around 4pm when "at least five speedboats with armed men opened fire" on the Anda II inter-island passenger ferry. A male nurse at Haulussy told AFP on condition of anonymity the hospital had also received "16 other patients badly wounded" by the gunmen.

The state Antara news agency quoted the ferry's captain, David Yosep, as saying he and his men were taken by surprise when "five speedboats approached us and opened fire ... causing panic among some 100 passengers."

Ambon last week was re-opened to large passenger ferries of the state shipping company PT Pelni, after a ban imposed in July to prevent the arrival of people from outside the province who could stir up more trouble in Ambon.

The Maluku islands, of which Ambon is the capital, have been riven by Muslim-Christian violence for almost 20 months, leaving more than 4,000 dead.

Antara did not say whether the 100 aboard the Anda II were fleeing Ambon. In July an inter-island feerry carrying some 500 Christian refugees sank in high seas. Only 11 people were rescued, one of whom later died.