muslims go door to door stabbing babies

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14 Christians Killed in Indonesia

Sun Apr 28, 5:11 AM ET

By MICHAEL CASEY, Associated Press Writer

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) - Assailants in black masks
hacked, shot and burned to death 14 Christians,
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including a six-month-old baby, in the religiously
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divided capital of Indonesia's Maluku province Sunday,
threatening a fragile peace pact.

Carrying automatic rifles, grenades and daggers, about
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a dozen men yelling "kill them all" stormed the mainly
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Christian village of Soya on Ambon's outskirts, 1,600
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miles east of Jakarta, witnesses said.

They set 30 homes and a Protestant church on fire, and
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went from house to house, shooting into those that were
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occupied, witnesses said. Six Christians, including the
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baby, were stabbed to death and six others were killed
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in fires. Two more were believed to be shot to death.
The killings came two days after a militant Islamic
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group, Laskar Jihad, rejected the February peace deal,
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which was meant to end three years of fighting between
Muslims and Christians here that has left 9,000 dead.

"It may be the end of the peace deal," said Christian
pastor Cornelius Bohm in Ambon. "There is no doubt that
it was Laskar Jihad" behind Sunday's attack in Ambon.

Laskar Jihad share Osama bin Laden's anti-Western
stance but its commander, Jafar Umar Thalib, has denied
any links to international terror. The group could not
be reached for comment Sunday.

A senior police officer in Ambon, speaking on condition
of anonymity, said 14 people were killed Sunday. He
refused to speculate on the religion of the killers.

Survivors said they initially thought the intruders,
dressed in military camouflage, were soldiers carrying
out a security sweep but fled when the assailants
started tossing grenades and shooting at anyone who
moved. Those interviewed only described the attackers
as "terrorists" and said they were unsure if they were
Muslim.

"The scene is horrible," said one witness on condition
of anonymity. "I saw six bodies burned so badly you
couldn't recognize them."

He said police were searching the burned homes for more
bodies.

Later Sunday, security officers in Ambon fired warning
shots to disperse a crowd of about a dozen Muslims, a
witness said. They had gathered after seeing several
banned flags of the mostly Christian, separatist Maluku
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Sovereignty Front being flown. No one was injured.

Tension has run high in Ambon since the Front
celebrated the 52nd anniversary of a failed
independence bid Thursday. The group flew its
independence flags angering Muslims who responded by
burning down a partially rebuilt church and threatening
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to resume attacks on Christians.
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Bohm said Indonesia's government was trying to end the
violence, but did not have the power to clamp down on
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Laskar Jihad and other Muslim extremist groups in the
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province.