Muslims mob court after Christians sentenced to death

Thousands of Muslims have mobbed an Indonesian courthouse where three Christians have been sentenced to death for inciting a massacre.

Police have fired warning shots to stem the riot outside Palu District Court which has found the three guilty of training 700 Christians to attack Muslims.

In one incident last May, 191 Muslims sheltering in a mosque were massacred.

In another hundreds of people were killed and villages destroyed when Muslim gangs retaliated in fighting that continued for one month.

The violence had spread from the nearby Maluku islands, where fighting between Christians and Muslims has left thousands dead since it broke out in January, 1999. It is not clear if the defendants' lawyers will appeal the verdict.

Outside the courthouse, a mob of about 2,000 Muslims threw stones at the vehicles carrying the defendants to jail. Witnesses said at least one policeman was injured when he was hit by a rock. The crowd dispersed after security forces fired several warning shots.

Meanwhile, in Indonesia's western Aceh province, fresh violence has left at least four people dead.

Two rebels have been killed when a homemade bomb blew up as they were trying to plant it on a road near the town of Lhokseumawe.

In eastern Aceh, 1,750 kilometres north west of Jakarta, the bodies of two villagers have been found, a human rights group says. Both corpses have bullet wounds.

The deaths are believed to be linked to clashes between government troops and the rebel Free Aceh Movement. The rebels have been fighting for an independent homeland on the northern tip of Sumatra island about since the mid 1970's. At least 6,000 people have been killed in the past decade.