JAKARTA (AP): Indonesian police have arrested at least 15 Muslims
suspected of participating in violence against Christians on
Central Sulawesi in recent years, official said Tuesday.
The men, identified during eight months of police
surveillance, are suspected in 13 cases dating back to 2001,
including shootings, beheadings, bombings and robberies, said
national police spokesman Brig. Gen. Anton Bachrul Alam.
Investigators are hunting another 29 suspects still at large,
he said.
Central Sulawesi, particularly the town of Poso, was the scene
of fierce gunbattles between Christians and Muslims from 1998 to
2002 that left at least 1,000 people from both faiths dead.
A peace agreement ended the worst of the violence, but
tensions flared anew after last month’s executions of three Roman
Catholic militants convicted of leading a 2000 attack on an
Islamic school that killed at least 70 people.
Critics say the men did not get a fair trial and allege that
religion played a role in their sentencing, noting that only a
handful of Muslims were punished, and none given more than 15
years in jail. (**)
