JAKARTA: The number of casualties rose to 10 today with 23 people injured after a riot broke out in Indonesia's eastern province of Highland Papua, local police said.
Papua province police spokesman Ignatius Benny Ady Prabowo said the riot in the newly-established province was triggered by a rumour about a child being kidnapped.
As many as 21 houses and shops were burned by the mass in Jayawijaya regency of the province yesterday, the spokesman said.
"The mass consists of people who wanted to create a riot, so they set fires," he told Xinhua.
The situation has been controlled by policemen and soldiers hours after the riot, and about 100 mobile policemen have been sent as reinforcement to the scene, the spokesman said. – Bernama