JAKARTA -- Indonesia's Ambon city became a battle ground Wednesday as troops fired on tens of thousands of rioters, killing two and injuring at least 50 people.
Fighting between thousands of Christians and Muslims armed with Molotov cocktails, machetes and spears broke out in the morning and went on for most of the day in the city, 1,400 miles east of Jakarta."Literally speaking, there's a war going on now," an Ambon resident trapped in his office told Reuters Wednesday. He said the city resembled a war zone.
Another local resident told Reuters he saw troops and police intermittently firing in the crowd and into the air.
Sources at two hospitals told Reuters at least 50 people were admitted with gunshot wounds. One of those who died was shot in the head, a source said.
Elsewhere in the vast archipelago, Muslim protesters again marched in protest at the military's failure to stem the violence in the eastern island.