A manhunt is under way after a group of sword and gun-wielding attackers killed four people in a remote part of the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, including one who was beheaded and one burned to death.
The ambush took place in Lembantongoa village in Central Sulawesi province on Friday morning. Authorities said the victims were members of a Christian community but a police official said the assault was not religiously motivated. The attackers also torched half a dozen homes, including one used for regular prayers and services, police said.
Police were hunting the suspects on Saturday and no arrests have yet been made.
Authorities blamed Sulawesi-based East Indonesia Mujahideen (MIT), one of the groups across the world’s biggest Muslim-majority nation that have pledged allegiance to ISIL (ISIS).
“We reached the conclusion that they (the attackers) were from MIT after showing pictures of its members to relatives of the victims” who witnessed the ambush, said Yoga Priyahutama, Sigi Regency police chief.
The makeshift church that was attacked was empty at the time of the early morning assault, he added.
“People were just in their homes when it happened,” Priyahutama said.
Lembantongoa village head Rifai, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, said one victim was beheaded and another was nearly decapitated.
“Some residents managed to escape, but the victims didn’t make it,” Rifai told the AFP news agency.
One of the other male victims was stabbed while a fourth was burned to death in his home, he added.
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