[Kabar-indonesia] Police arrest 14 Christians over killings of Muslims in Indonesia [+update]

[Joyo at aol.com]

also: update: Two killed in Indonesia over Christians' execution

Police arrest 14 Christians over killings of Muslims in Indonesia

JAKARTA, October 9 (AP) - Indonesia police arrested 14 Christians
accused of bludgeoning two Muslim men to death amid anger at the
execution of three Roman Catholic militants on Sulawesi island last
month, a police officer said Monday.

The fish salesmen were killed at an illegal roadblock on the island's
main highway and their bodies were buried in a shallow grave nearby,
said Central Sulawesi Police Chief Brig. Gen. Badrudin Haiti.

The Sept. 22 executions of the three militants for their role in
violence against Muslims in sectarian violence in 2000 triggered riots
among Christians. Rights groups have raised questions over the
fairness of the trial.

The roadblock was one of several set up by Christian youth on the
island following the executions.

However, Haiti denied that the Sept. 22 murders had anything to do
with the executions, saying the two Muslims were killed because they
failed to slow down at the checkpoint.

Police officials on Sulawesi routinely deny killings or bombings
specifically targeting Muslims or Christians are religiously
motivated, out of a fear that doing so may trigger more violence.

The arrests took place over the weekend, Haiti said, adding the men
would be soon be charged with murder.

More than 1,000 people of both faiths died in four years of sectarian
fighting on Sulawesi that ended in 2002 with a government-sponsored
peace deal. The three Christians were found guilty of leading an
attack on a Muslim boarding school that killed at least 70 people.

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Two killed in Indonesia over Christians' execution

JAKARTA, October 9 (Reuters) - Two Muslim men were killed by a crowd
angered by last month's execution of three Christian militants in
Indonesia's Central Sulawesi province, police said on Monday.

The two had been missing for two weeks when their bodies were found on
Saturday in a village in the strife-torn region of Poso, provincial
police spokesman Muhammad Kilat said.

He said the men were travelling in a truck carrying fish when they
were stopped by a crowd of Christians on Sept. 23, a day after police
executed three Christians for leading a militia that killed Muslims
during inter-religious violence in Poso six years ago.

"They were told to stop but refused. They were chased by the emotional
mass and mobbed," Kilat said, adding that the attack was
"spontaneous".

Fourteen people have been arrested and confessed to taking part in the
killing of the two men, fish traders from neighbouring South Sulawesi
province, he said.

An autopsy revealed that the men had been hit by blunt objects,
Sulistian Riantoko, a police chief in South Sulawesi, was quoted by
Indonesia's Antara news agency as saying.

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Joyo Indonesia News Service
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