JAKARTA (CWNews.com)

    As many as 160 people were killed on Monday when militant Muslim extremists attacked a remote Indonesian island on Monday.

    About 152 Christians and eight Muslims were killed in the village of Duma on the island of Halmahera, making it one of the worst massacres in the 18 months of fighting between Christian and Muslim gangs in the Malukus region in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation.

    Eyewitnesses said the Muslim fighters were armed with military-style weapons while the Christian residents fought back with homemade weapons. Sartje Wasapapuling, an official at the Evangelical Christian Church in Tobelo, cited local clergy as saying the Christian death toll was 152. She said there were fears for the safety of some Christian women and children who had been taken away by Muslims.

    Father Hadi, who lives in the town of Tobelo, said Duma villagers had told him that about 500 Muslim fighters in black and white uniforms descended upon the village. Radical Muslim groups have formed militias of jihad, or holy war, soldiers to enter the restive Malukus region and attack Christians. The government had pledged to keep the groups out of the region, but recent reports indicate the promised blockade has been ineffective.

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