Posted on 11/30/2003 11:01:30 AM PST by miltonim
Four Christians Killed as Muslims Protest Against Arrests
Church service schedules have been found in a raid on terror suspects. The discovery was made days after the alleged mastermind of the Bali bombings shouted during his trial “We are ready to win the crusade against Christians! We will win!” Westerners and local Christians are clearly considered one and same enemy.
On Sunday 16 November the bodies of Mr Tadjodja and his nephew were found in their car between two Muslim villages near Poso. Mr Tadjodja, 58, was the GKST treasurer and had been sent by the church’s synod to preach in one of the villages hit in the 12 October attacks [see news item of 20 October 2003 http://www.barnabasfund.org/News/Archive/Indonesia/Indonesia-20031020.htm]. His 26 year old nephew was his driver.
The windows of the car had all been broken and Mr Tadjodja had been cudgelled with a heavy blunt instrument to such an extent that his head had been crushed and his face was difficult to identify. His nephew had been attacked with a machete, or similar weapon, and his neck had been almost completely severed. The proximity of two police stations in each of the neighbouring villages was the reason that they had neither been shot nor the car burnt.
That same day another member of GKST, known as Dennis, was travelling through Poso on the way to Palu, when an irate Muslim mob forced him to come to a halt and then dragged him from his motorbike. He was beaten to death. His body was found near the market area in Poso along with the body of another Christian and GKST member assumed to be Mr Bowo, though his identity is as yet unconfirmed. He had been killed in a similar brutal fashion; his burnt out motorbike was discovered nearby.
The Muslim mob had been venting its anger outside the police station in Poso because of the arrest of Muslim suspects in the 12 October attacks. In response to the growing unrest in the area around Poso, the authorities have decided to put 2000 police and soldiers on alert.
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