Sunday, November 20, 2005
I had no idea it was this bad in Indonesia...
A 20-year-old woman died and her friend was injured. Police said it was too early to tell if the latest attack was linked to the deadly sectarian unrest simmering between the region's majority Muslim and minority Christian communities. Hostilities last broke out in 2001, ignited by rumours that a Muslim girl had been raped by a Christian, attracting the widespread attention of Indonesia's militant Islamists.
To jihadists across the archipelago and beyond, Poso's tensions were a call to arms against the region's 200,000 Christians. By the summer of 2001, with little attempt by the government to halt their migration, thousands of militants, mainly from outlawed groups such as Laksar Jihad and Jemaah Islamiyah, had travelled here with weapons, military training from Afghanistan and a mission to drive out the infidels.
To jihadists across the archipelago and beyond, Poso's tensions were a call to arms against the region's 200,000 Christians. By the summer of 2001, with little attempt by the government to halt their migration, thousands of militants, mainly from outlawed groups such as Laksar Jihad and Jemaah Islamiyah, had travelled here with weapons, military training from Afghanistan and a mission to drive out the infidels.
