Suspected Muslim militant admits beheading Christian girls

A suspected Islamic militant today told judges he took part in the beheadings of three Christian girls on an Indonesian island wracked by sectarian violence because he wanted to avenge the deaths of Muslims.

Hasanuddin told the Central Jakarta District Court he and two other men were “involved” in the October 2005 attack on the girls as they walked to school on Sulawesi island, the scene of inter-faith battles that left at least 1,000 people dead from 1998 to 2002.