Jakarta - Fresh communal clashes in Indonesia's violence-hit island of Ambon have killed at least five people and injured 24, police said yesterday. Fighting broke out on Thursday evening in an abandoned eastern residential district of Ambon city where Muslims and Christians once lived side by side. Sporadic fighting continued and houses were still burning yesterday.
An official at a Christian control post said houses were set on fire and at least two Christians were killed. Five were seriously injured in the clashes between Muslims descending from the hills and locals defending abandoned houses.
Recurring violence between Christians and Muslims this year has hit the island 1,440 miles east of Jakarta. More than 500 people have died in the eastern Moluccas, of which Ambon is the capital, in bloodshed this year.