Aid workers leave Ambon

Fresh troops have arrived to quell the violence

Foreign aid workers pulled out of the strife-torn capital of the Moluccan islands, Ambon, on Sunday.

The aid workers were evacuated on Indonesian military planes as fresh troops arrived to quell the growing violence between Muslims and Christians.

"We cannot work here normally, the situation is unpredictable. It is not safe to stay," aid worker Denis Menigon said.

Mr Menigon, the co-ordinator of Action Contre La Faim (ACF), said the aid workers had met Ambon governor Saleh Latuconsina, who had agreed it was the "right decision" for them to leave.

"That they prefer us to leave means they are not confident of controlling the situation," he said.

He said ACF considered the fighting to be "the worst and most serious since last July", adding that tension prevailed everywhere.

A military convoy escorted the 11 staff from Medecins Sans Frontieres and ACF - which had been providing food and health services - as well as a Dutch diplomat and a UN official to the airport, which has been officially closed since Friday.

Fresh troops

The latest outbreak of violence on Saturday left three Muslims and one Christian dead.

Several buildings were torched last week

At least 26 people died last week, many from sniper fire. Dozens of houses and a church were torched.

On Sunday, 200 soldiers arrived at the airport, Moluccas military chief Brigadier General Max Tamaela told Indonesia's Antara news agency.

The fresh troops brought the total number of soldiers around Ambon to six battalions, each comprising 650 to 1,000 men.

Last week, Indonesian troops were ordered to shoot snipers on sight in Ambon.

'Holy war'

The renewed violence appears to have been fuelled by the arrival of an estimated 2,000 extremist Muslim "Jihad warriors".

Armed with automatic weapons, they have declared a "holy war" against Christians.

Lawyers for Ambon's Christian community said they were drafting a letter to the UN, asking it to intervene.

More than 2,500 people have been killed in the Moluccas since January 1999 and hundreds of thousands more have fled the islands.