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"Currently, there are 19 non-organic (joint) battalions in the Pattimura military command as part of an effort to support the task of securing the region," said the military official.
Seven battalions have been placed on Halmahera Island in the North Maluku province. He added that six battalions had also been sent to Seram Island, while the rest were split between Ambon and Ternate islands.
More than 3,000 people have died in the violence in the Malukus, known as the Spice Islands during Dutch colonial rule, since a minor dispute in Ambon in January of last year spiraled into a cycle of revenge attacks. At least 1,700 people have died since late December in the newly formed province of North Maluku, of which Halmahera is part.
The violence has since spread to Lombok Island, east of Bali, and to Sumbawa, east of Lombok, where several churches were set on fire or damaged in an apparent reaction to the slaughter of more than 200 Muslims on Halmahera.
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