Muslim Youths Kill Christians in Indonesia

Mobs of Muslim youths set fire to churches and attacked Christians on Sunday in an eruption of ethnic and religious violence that killed 14 people in the capital.

Some victims were mutilated and one was paraded in the streets by his killers. Troops desperate to restore order fired shots and volleys of tear gas to break up rock-throwing crowds that officials said had burned four churches and ransacked seven others.

Violence was also directed against ethnic Chinese, Indonesia’s most economically powerful minority and a common target of racial attacks.

The violence comes as Indonesia grapples with its worst economic crisis in 30 years. Millions of people live in poverty as inflation and unemployment rates soar.

President B.J. Habibie is at the center of protests over his plan to change Indonesia’s political system, which opponents say falls short of introducing true democracy.

Dozens were reported injured in the clashes Sunday between the Muslim majority and Christians from the eastern island of Ambon.

Muslims said they retaliated after the Ambonese threw rocks at a mosque and smashed windows.

In one attack, Muslim mobs broke in and vandalized a Roman Catholic church where a wedding was being held.

“We got out as quickly as we could,” said the bride, Threewaty, 27, who like many Indonesians goes by only one name. “We’re still not married. But we’re safe.”