10 – Gruesome Violence in Indonesia
A series of gruesome attacks showed all the signs of attempts by Muslim extremists to provoke Christians into religious war. A bombing on May 28 in the Christian market of Tentena left 22 dead and at least 49 injured. Two witnesses in the ensuing trial were shot dead in Poso district, as was a policeman involved in the investigation. On October 27, another bomb exploded in a Christian bus en route from Aplu to Tentena. In late October in Poso, four teenage girls were assaulted while walking to their Christian high school. Theresia Morangke, Alfita Poliwo and Yarni Sambue were beheaded while a fourth, Noviana Malewa, is still recovering from serious injuries. All three heads were found in plastic bags with a note stating in part, “We will murder 100 more Christian teenagers and their heads will be presented as presents.” Two more schoolgirls – one Christian and one Muslim – were shot on November 8. Machete-wielding assailants attacked three young people, killing one of them, on November 18, and a Christian couple was shot and seriously wounded on November 19. Finally, in Central Sulawesi in the early morning hours of December 31, a bomb explosion in a market of a Christian area of Palu killed eight people and left 56 others injured.
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