Indonesia Boosts Security After Girls Beheaded
Ade Rina and Tomi Soetjipto
Reuters AlertNet, UK
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Jakarta (Indonesia):
Indonesian police beefed up security patrols on Sunday in the Poso area, plagued by sectarian violence for years, after mysterious assailants in black beheaded three teenage Christian girls.
Six machete-wielding men attacked the 16 to 19-year-old students as they were walking to their school on Saturday on Indonesia's eastern island of Sulawesi, police said.
Police official Made Rai said about 1,000 police, including reinforcements from other parts of the country, were securing the remote regency of Poso, with more than 300 additional officers expected to arrive on Sunday."We are still investigating. So far no witness has been questioned and no suspect arrested," Rai told Reuters by telephone from Poso, about 1,500 km (900 miles) northeast of capital Jakarta.
One student survived and had described the attack.Muslim-Christian clashes in the Poso area killed 2,000 people from 1998 through 2001, when a peace deal was agreed.While the worst violence abated after the deal, there have been sporadic outbreaks since. Bombings in May in the Christian town of Tentena killed 22 people.
The three headless bodies of the girls, dressed in brown uniforms, were left at the site of the attack. Their heads were found at separate locations two hours later by residents.
Din Syamsuddin, leader of Indonesia's second-largest Muslim group Muhammadiyah, warned of more violence in Poso if police do not catch the perpetrators soon.
Oct 30, 2005
Ade Rina and Tomi Soetjipto
Reuters AlertNet, UK
________________
Jakarta (Indonesia):
Indonesian police beefed up security patrols on Sunday in the Poso area, plagued by sectarian violence for years, after mysterious assailants in black beheaded three teenage Christian girls.
Six machete-wielding men attacked the 16 to 19-year-old students as they were walking to their school on Saturday on Indonesia's eastern island of Sulawesi, police said.
Police official Made Rai said about 1,000 police, including reinforcements from other parts of the country, were securing the remote regency of Poso, with more than 300 additional officers expected to arrive on Sunday."We are still investigating. So far no witness has been questioned and no suspect arrested," Rai told Reuters by telephone from Poso, about 1,500 km (900 miles) northeast of capital Jakarta.
One student survived and had described the attack.Muslim-Christian clashes in the Poso area killed 2,000 people from 1998 through 2001, when a peace deal was agreed.While the worst violence abated after the deal, there have been sporadic outbreaks since. Bombings in May in the Christian town of Tentena killed 22 people.
The three headless bodies of the girls, dressed in brown uniforms, were left at the site of the attack. Their heads were found at separate locations two hours later by residents.
Din Syamsuddin, leader of Indonesia's second-largest Muslim group Muhammadiyah, warned of more violence in Poso if police do not catch the perpetrators soon.
Oct 30, 2005
