An Indonesian human rights group says eighty-two people died in the recent outbreak of sectarian violence between Muslims and Christians on the island of Ambon.

The official Antara news agency quoted a spokesman for the group, the Commission for Missing Persons and Victims of Violence, Kontras, as saying the figures were more than double the official estimates of thirty-three deaths.

Another Kontras member told the agency the number of victims of violence had increased after the arrival of additional security forces in Ambon. Shops, homes and cars were set on fire in Ambon at the end of last month during the outbreak of fighting between Muslims and Christians armed with machetes, spears and stones.

More than three hundred people were killed in a previous eruption of violence than began in Ambon in January.