JAKARTA, Jan. 29 (UPI) -- Police in Indonesia's Central Sulawesi province were holding 26 men following a clash between authorities and suspected Muslim militants.
The Jakarta Post said late last week 14 people were killed in the clash, which occurred when police launched a crackdown on militants in the town of Poso.
"Out of the 26 people (arrested), two are those on the (police wanted) list," Central Sulawesi Police spokesman Adj. Sr. Cmdr Muhammad Kilat told the newspaper.
Asluddin Hatjani, a lawyer for several of the men arrested, accused the police of detaining suspects without reason and then coercing them into making confessions.
"During the arrest, the police handed handmade weapons to several of them and took their pictures to make it seem as if they possessed the weapons," he said. "All this was engineered."
Sulawesi, a large island, has been the scene of Muslim-Christian violence. Between 1998 and 2001, as many as 1,000 people were believed to have died in violence between rival militias in Central Sulawesi. Rioting broke out in Central Sulawesi as recently as last year when the government executed three Catholics convicted of leading militia violence.
Additional details on the clash in Poso were not immediately available.
