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Bombs rock Christian procession in Ambon, two killed

Source
Agence France Presse - December 6, 2000

Jakarta – Home-made bombs were thrown into a Christian procession in Ambon city, capital of the riot-torn Indonesian province of Maluku Wednesday, killing one soldier and injuring at least seven others people, doctors and the military said. Another man, a Muslim, was killed and four wounded during clashes that followed the bombing, the state Antara news agency said.

"One soldier was brought here dead, with multiple wounds from fragments of a home-made bomb," First Sergeant Rusad of the military hospital in Ambon told AFP. "Three other soldiers were also injured by splinters from bombs but they only have superficial injuries," Rusad added.

A 27-year-old Muslim man was shot dead during clashes between Muslim mobs and soldiers following the bombing incident, the state Antara news agency reported Wednesday. Four other Muslims were wounded in the clashes, Antara said, adding that they had been taken to the Al-Fatah hospital in Ambon.

The bomb attack in the A.Y. Patty area in downtown Ambon earlier on Wednesday had also injured four civilians. One was wheeled in with his right foot blown off at the ankle while another had splinters in his backbone, a doctor at the state Haulussy hospital's emergency ward said. Two other men were lightly injured, he added.

The Haulussy hospital staff said that according to reports from people who brought in the victims, at least two home-made bombs exploded among a procession of Christian men.

The four wounded civilians had been among the Christians who were heading to a local security post to conduct a mass there. Their chanting had drawn hostile reactions from Muslims in the area who started to gather, prompting security personnel to intervene and protect the procession. But the bombs blew up shortly after the security personnel arrived, the hospital staff said.

The conflict between Muslims and Christians in the Maluku islands, previously known as the Spice Islands, has left more than 4,000 people of both faiths dead and a trail of destruction.

In June, Jakarta imposed a state of civil emergency in the Malukus and the North Malukus, which allowed the governors to declare certain areas closed or under isolation, but it has so far failed to rein in the violence. The clashes have created more than half a million refugees, many of whom have fled to other islands and provinces.

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