Beheadings

last updated 8 January 2015

Sulawesi, Indonesia

Machete-wielding men in masks, believed to be Muslim extremists, ambushed a group of Christian girls on their way to high school last week, beheading three of them. A fourth girl survived this latest outbreak of sectarian violence in Sulawesi, but was gravely injured. A 2001 peace deal was supposed to have ended the fighting between Muslims and Christians, which killed more than 2,000 people in four years, but there have been several attacks in recent weeks. The Indonesian government sent nearly 1,000 police and soldiers to the area this week to try to prevent further religious violence.