Soldiers have killed at least 17 people in the continuing clashes between Muslims and Christians in Indonesia's Moluccan islands, according to the Indonesian military.

A military spokesman said the latest victims died when soldiers fired on warring factions in the town of Masohi on Seram Island.

A police official told the BBC that violence was continuing in the town, which is about 1,600 miles east of the Indonesian capital Jakarta.

The death toll in the region since last week is now approaching 600, making it the worst of any religious conflict in Indonesia's 50-year history as an independent nation.

Hundreds of soldiers were sent to Masohi last week, but failed to stop the violence.

Rivai Latuconsina, a Masohi resident, said thousands of people had been involved in the fighting there.

"Hundreds of houses have been burned and destroyed," he said. "It's just total destruction."

Reports on Monday said 15 people were killed in clashes on Halmahera island, where 400 people are said to have died in the last week.

Another three refugees were said to have been beaten in Ternate in North Maluku province.

The Indonesian military has confiscated thousands of weapons during a massive sweep in the port city of Ambon, Maluku's provincial capital, where 63 people died last week.

Ambon's military chief, Lieutenant Colonel Arif Mardiyanto, said the sweep, which continued into a third day on Tuesday, would move on to other islands.

Cabinet reshuffle

Meanwhile, media reports on Tuesday said Indonesia's security chief, General Wiranto, was likely to lose his job in a forthcoming government reshuffle.

President Abdurrahman Wahid is said to have disagreed with his co-ordinating minister for security and political affairs over how to deal with the violence in the Moluccan Islands and the growing separatist unrest in Aceh, where at least 600 people died in 1999.

In Aceh on Tuesday, a policeman and two civilians were killed when dozens of rebels ambushed their convoy.

Defence Minister Juwono Sudarsono is being tipped to replace General Wiranto.

About 1,300 people have died in Maluku and North Maluku provinces since sectarian clashes first erupted a year ago.

The fighting has interrupted normal commerce and some parts of the city face shortages of food and other staples. Shortages of rice and cooking oil have been reported.

The Moluccan islands, to the east of the country, were known as the Spice Islands during Dutch colonial rule.