Hundreds of police and soldiers have been dispatched to restore security in western Indonesia after 14 people were killed and dozens wounded in ethnic clashes, police said on Wednesday.
Four people died during a clash on Sunday in Balinuraga village of Lampung province, and the death toll climbed to 14 with more people killed when the clashes continued on Monday and Tuesday, National Police spokesman Brigadier General Boy Rafli Amar said.
Most residents of Balinuraga are of Balinese descent and migrated to Lampung under a government migration programme during Suharto’s New Order regime.
Amar said nine people were hospitalised with stab wounds and broken bones, and more than 1,300 villagers had to be evacuated from their homes into a temporary shelter in a police compound in the provincial capital, Bandar Lampung.
Authorities are trying to stop the fighting, Amar said, adding more than 1,500 police and 500 soldiers were sent to the area on Tuesday when the fight escalated as angry mobs set alight more than 160 houses and a dozen vehicles.