JAKARTA (CWNews.com) - Muslim rioters went on a rampage in Indonesia today, burning down as many as a dozen churches on Lombok island, near the tourist destination of Bali.

    A diocesan spokesman in the city of Mataram said only two churches are left standing "which means at least 12 or 13 churches there have been torched." Police said thousands of Muslims roamed the town during the day, burning churches and other buildings, after attending a rally earlier in the day.

    Some extremist Muslims in Indonesia have called for a holy war against Christians because of reporting by state media and other sources that Christians are slaughtering innocent Muslims in the Malukus province. Over the past year, more than 2,000 people of both religions have been killed in the region once called the Spice Islands as Christian and Muslim gangs have warred with one another.

    Indonesia is the most populous Muslim majority country in the world, although Christians are sizeable minority in the Spice Islands, former Dutch colonies.

    A resident in Mataram, told Reuters news agency rioters wielding machetes and Molotov cocktails shouted "Finish off the Christians, finish off the churches!" as they rampaged about 10 km (six miles) from the main tourist strip of Senggigi beach. The local hospital said eight people had been admitted with gunshot wounds, but no one had been reported killed.