Violence Rocks Indonesia
Religious violence and protests shook Indonesia on Thursday, with Christians and Muslims fighting in one province while demonstrators demanded independence for another.
Violence in the eastern province of Maluku left 14 people dead, including an 11-year-old boy, when riot police dispersed rampaging gangs on the outskirts of the provincial capital, Ambon, witnesses said.
The deaths brought the toll from rioting that broke out Sunday to at least 53.
A military spokesman said security forces discovered 14 other bodies left over from earlier rioting. The spokesman, Capt. Sutarno, said the badly charred bodies were discovered in the houses and shops torched during the latest round of bloodshed.
Sutarno, who like many Indonesians uses only one name, also said 257 civilians and 16 security officers were injured in the unrest in Maluku, known as the Spice Islands during Dutch colonial rule.
Police were joined by a battalion of Indonesia's toughest soldiers. The unit was one of two battalions deployed after local security forces proved incapable of quelling the running battles.
Nearly 400 people have died this year in a series of clashes and riots between Christians and Muslims in the province, 1,450 miles northeast of Jakarta.
In Jakarta, meanwhile, Islamic students scuffled with police after demanding the resignation of Indonesia's defense minister, blaming him for crimes against humanity in the campaign against separatists in the northern province of Aceh.
About 100 students chanted Â"Allahu Akbar,Â" or Â"God is great,Â" and accused Defense Minister Gen. Wiranto of being responsible for the deaths of hundreds of rebels and civilians in Aceh, located 1,100 miles northwest of Jakarta.
Clashes with rebels demanding an independent Muslim state have claimed the lives of more than 250 people in Aceh, including 44 Indonesian troops. More than 140,000 villagers have fled their homes since May.
Indonesia has dispatched 11,000 troops to the province and human rights activists claim the military has massacred hundreds of villagers.
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