Jakarta sends extra troops to Borneo

Indigenous Dayaks overturn a police truck in the riot-torn area of Borneo

JAKARTA, Indonesia -- More Indonesian troops have been sent to the latest ethnic battleground in Borneo, where 17 people have been killed in fresh fighting.

Four hundred extra troops have arrived in the area, which is now calm after clashes between indigenous Dayaks and settlers from Madura island.

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Last month hundreds were killed in ethnic massacres in Kalimantan, the Indonesian part of the island.

"Additional troops from Palangkaraya and Balikpapan have arrived," said Syaiful Maltha, chief of police in the Central Kalimantan town of Kuala Kapuas, referring to two Borneo cities.

The official Antara news agency said that based on information collected from four locations in the Kuala Kapuas area, up to 17 people had been killed recently and five badly wounded in fighting between machete-wielding mobs.

Central Kalimantan is the site of one of troubled Indonesia's worst bouts of ethnic violence in recent years when nearly 500 people, mostly Madurese, were butchered by rampaging Dayaks last month in other parts of the province.

Many Madurese were beheaded and 50,000 forced to flee.

Tension between Dayaks and Madurese -- often over land disputes and job opportunities -- has flared periodically and up to 1,000 people have been killed in clashes in recent years. Madura is an island just off East Java.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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