JAKARTA, May 1 (Xinhuanet) -- The Indonesian Military (TNI) has said it is deploying more intelligence officers and soldiers in coordination with police to hunt down snipers blamed for fueling terror among civilians in Ambon, capital of the eastern province of Maluku.

    TNI spokesman Maj. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsoeddin was quoted Saturdayby The Jakarta Post as saying that top military chief Gen. Endriartono Sutarto ordered his personnel to shoot snipers on sight.

    The snipers are apparently equipped with automatic rifles fabricated by arms companies such as Bandung-based PT Pindad or others belonging to foreign countries, Sjafrie said without elaborating further.

    He said snipers may have used guns stolen from a police armory in Tantui on June, 21, 2000, where around 300 of the total 893 weapons and 800,000 bullets were taken in an attack by unidentified people.

    Religious clashes escalated again in Ambon early Friday as arson, gunfire and explosions rocked the battle-scarred city, injuring at least 19 people and paralyzing the provincial administration.

    Gunfire erupted in the hamlet of Waringin in Batugantung neighborhood, Nusaniwe subdistrict, following the burning of houses from 1:15 a.m. to 4:30 a.m Friday.

    Most of the homes set ablaze were empty as their owners fled when the clashes began on Sunday as a reaction to the separatist Maluku Sovereignty Front (FKM), who were parading through town to mark the 54th anniversary of the South Maluku Republic (RMS).

    The religiously divided city became increasingly tense after bomb explosions began going off on Friday.

    Nineteen people were rushed to two local hospitals with burns, gunshot injuries and other wounds caused by the bomb blasts.

    It was the sixth straight day of fighting in Ambon, effectivelydecimating the 2002 peace accord signed by Muslim and Christian leaders. At least 37 people had been killed in previous clashes, which raised fears that the province could plunge back into a full-scale Muslim-Christian war as it did in 1999, resulting in the deaths of thousands of people. Enditem