Three people were killed and more than 10 injured as mortars and gunfire reverberated through Indonesia's battle-torn city of Ambon for the fourth day running yesterday, residents said.
Six Christians were injured in the mortar attacks launched by Muslims near the provincial military command in downtown Ambon, Mr Max Siahaya of the Maranatha emergency support post said. "Homes were burned down, people are fleeing to seek refuge. There's nothing left here," he said.
Mr Malik Selang, the secretary of the Ambon branch of the Muslim Indonesian Council of Ulemas (MUI), said three Muslims were killed by snipers roaming rooftops in the city. But he denied Muslims attacked Christians with mortars.
"On the contrary, Christian snipers are shooting Muslims from the top of the Pusdikom [Computer Education Centre] building," Mr Selang added. He said two of the dead had been taken into the al-Fatah Muslim hospital while the other was left in the Diponegoro area.
Earlier, Ms Johanna Hukom of the Maluku branch of the Indonesian Red Cross, said Muslim mobs, reportedly aided by the army, were burning Christian homes in the areas of Airmata Cina, Ponegoro Atas and Urimeseng, not far from a military headquarters in Ambon.
"I don't know what to say any more, you can hear the mortar blasts, can't you," she said by telephone from Ambon as mortar blasts sounded in the background. She said the violence appeared to be concentrated in the south-west neighbourhoods.
A Protestant clergyman, the Rev Agus, said he believed the attacks were aimed at cutting off land communications between the centre of the town and the western and mainly Christian parts of the city. "Nobody is venturing outside, except for those fleeing to the hills behind the city," he said.
Earlier, Mr Sammy Weileruni of the Maranatha church said reports from the field indicated that "the arsonists are a combination of the Jihad Force and army troops."
At least 2,000 members of the militant Muslim Jihad force have come to the islands from Java since April. Many, including Christian leaders in the Malukus, have accused the army of partiality and directly or indirectly taking part in the conflict. Some 4,000 people - both Muslim and Christian - have died in 18 months of sectarian fighting in the Malukus since violence erupted in Ambon in January 1999.