Islamic warriors near Christian town

Islamic Jihad forces are preparing to strike an Indonesian town where more than 65,000 Christians reside, according to a group that monitors persecution of Christians.

The Christian community of Ranoncu Bridge on the island of Sulawesi told Washington, D.C.-based International Christian Concern yesterday that the Muslim militants are less than four miles from Tentena, a town that barely escaped an attack last November.

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Last fall local Christians and the Indonesian military engaged in a six-hour battle at Ranoncu Bridge that prevented Laskar Jihad forces from advancing toward Tentena.

Laskar Jihad, a group that expresses allegiance to Osama bin Laden, has the stated aim of making Indonesia a strict Islamic nation. The group has escalated a conflict in Central Sulawesi that has taken more than 2,000 lives and waged a violent campaign against Christians in neighboring Maluku province, where at least 9,000 people have been killed since 1999. Indonesia has the largest Muslim population in the world, with more than 180 million. A minority supports the radical Islamic parties, analysts say.

A government military post was installed near Ranoncu Bridge in January, but a military officer said yesterday that they can do nothing now but "just wait for the attack and orders from their superiors."

"Up until now, the Christians have been unable to do anything," said a leader at the Christians' crisis center, which helps monitor the situation. "They have only been keeping watch and just waiting."

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"There has been no effort made by the military so far to stop the advancing Jihad warriors," the leader said.

Many Christian men have come from Tentena with homemade weapons in an attempt to ward off what could be thousands of approaching Jihad warriors, according to a worker at the crisis center.

A Christian leader in Ranoncu Bridge, issuing an urgent appeal for prayer and help, said: "We can hear the jihad warriors very clearly shouting 'Allahu Akbar, Allahu Akbar' [Allah is great]."

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