Palu – A man was shot dead when police in Indonesia's religiously-divided town of Poso, in Central Sulawesi, came under attack while trying to disarm residents, police have said.

Some 700 members of the police paramilitary unit, Brimob, were preparing to conduct a house-to-house search for weapons and explosives in the Gebangrejo area of Poso late Sunday evening when the violence began.

"Police were pelted with stones, a police truck was set on fire and shots were fired from both sides," Central Sulawesi police spokesman Muhammad Kilat said.

He said a 29-year-old resident was shot in the hip and later died from his injury, while two other residents injured in the shooting remained in critical condition at the local hospital.

"There were some among the people who yelled that the police were attacking, and so residents were provoked. There was an exchange of shots," Kilat said. He declined to give further details on whether the residents were shot by police, adding only that police were investigating.

Poso and the district surrounding it became a focal point of communal violence between Muslims and Christians which claimed about 1,000 lives in 2000-2001.

Sporadic unrest has persisted since then, with tensions rising anew since the execution of three Christians last month, who were convicted of inciting some of the attacks six years ago.

Many Muslims in the province have accused elements within the police of siding with the Christian camp.