Troops deployed to quell Indonesian disorder

Indonesia deployed security forces to an eastern region after gangs of Muslims and Christians armed with rocks and machetes clashed in violence that left three people dead and 80 others injured, officials said today.

The violence broke out in the Maluku provincial capital of Ambon yesterday after rumours spread that a Muslim motorcycle taxi driver, who died in a traffic accident, had been killed and tortured by Christians, said Captain Marinus Djati, the Ambon traffic police chief.