JAKARTA, June 10 (Xinhuanet) -- Mount Awu volcano on Indonesia's Sangihe island of North Sulawesi province erupted again and ash up 3,000-metres into the sky on Thursday, performing another major eruption this week.

    "Around 5:29 a.m. this morning, the Awu volcano hurled stones, rocks and other volcanic materials from its crater," Agus Solihin,a volcanologist at the nearby monitoring post in Tahuna of the region, was quoted by local internet media as saying.

    Tahuna is the main town on Sangihe, a small island of 22,000 people off the North Sulawesi province, 2,610 kilometers northeastof the Indonesian capital Jakarta. It is located just south of thePhilippines' Mindanao Island.

    A number of smaller eruptions and aftershocks followed the major eruption Thursday.

    Solihin said Thursday's eruption caused no injuries because themajority of the villagers living in the zones of Awu's slopes had already been evacuated.

    After the eruptions of Mountain Awu and Mountain Bromo of East Java province on Tuesday, the directorate general for volcano and geological disaster mitigation warned of the possible eruption of five other volcanoes, an official said.

    The potentially erupting volcanoes are Mt Dukono and Mt Ibu, both on Halmahera island in North Maluku; Mt Lokon in North Sulawesi; and Mt Ijan and Mt Semeru, both in East Java, Director-General Yousana Siagian was quoted Thursday by the official Antaranews agency as saying.

    Indonesia has 129 active and dormant volcanoes.

    Two young hikers were killed in the Mt Bromo eruption, one fromSurabaya, East Java and one from Singapore. Meanwhile, more than 1,000 villagers living on the slope of Mt. Awu have been evacuated to safer areas.

    Indonesia is situated on the Pacific Rim of Fire, where volcanic and seismic activities frequently occur. Enditem