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3 killed, homes burned as villagers clash in eastern Indonesia

AP - Saturday, May 3

JAKARTA, Indonesia - Three people were killed and 60 homes, schools and places of worship were set on fire during a fierce clash between two villages in eastern Indonesia, police said Saturday.

It was not immediately clear what triggered Friday's violence in the Maluku islands.

Hundreds of riot police were deployed to the area to restore order, Brig. Gen. Guntur Ariyadi told el-Shinta radio, and scores of panicked villagers were evacuated to temporary shelters.

Residents from Saleman village have been involved in a land dispute with those from nearby Horale for more than two years, he said.

The region has also been the scene of religious tensions in the past, but police refused to say whether the villagers were from different faiths or if religion played a part in Friday's violence.

"Police have reason to believe this was a carefully orchestrated attack," he said, noting that the three dead were all from Horale.

Indonesia is overwhelmingly Muslim, but Christians form the majority in parts of Maluku and other eastern regions.

Members of the two faiths fought bloody battles in the Malukus between 1999 and 2001 that left around 9,000 people dead. The area _ known as the Spice Islands in colonial times _ has been largely peaceful since 2001.

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