Three Christian schoolgirls were attacked with machetes and beheaded on their way to school on the Indonesian island of Sulawesi.

The attack took place just outside a hill village called Byuym Boyo, 3 km from Poso city on Sulawesi on Saturday 29 October at 6.30am.

Ida Sambue and Theresa, both 16, and Alfita, 18, were on their way to a Christian school they attend with 150 other children. A fourth girl, Noviana, 16, was left injured in the attack, which was witnessed by a woman and a twelve year old boy who were on their way to the market.

The bodies of the girls were discovered at 10am.Two of the heads were found 9km south of Poso city, and the other was discovered 15km west of Poso city. The heads were reportedly inside plastic bags, with a warning written on them that another 100 Christian teenagers would be killed.

The police have detained eight suspects, who were on their way to Makassar in Southern Sulawesi. They are being held at a police station in Tentena, a town 56km from the larger town of Poso.

As a result of pressure from the churches, President Yudhoyono of Indonesia today issued a special instruction to the authorities, saying that he would personally handle this case.

When local Christians discovered where the suspects were being held, they surrounded the police station and became very agitated. The central Sulawesi Chief of Police contacted Reverend Damanik, Moderator for the Central Sulawesi Christian Reform Church, and Chairmen of the Central Sulawesi Churches Crisis Co-ordination Centre, to ask him to return to help calm the situation. Rev Damanik is currently on a speaking tour of the UK with CSW and is liaising remotely with the Church and authorities.

Rev Damanik said, "I would like the international community to encourage the Indonesian government to take action to bring peace and stability to the Poso region of Central Sulawesi."

Tina Lambert, Advocacy Director of CSW, added: "This is a sickening and horrific attack on innocent schoolgirls. Our thoughts and prayers are with the families of those who have lost their loved ones in such a brutal attack. Those who wish to stir up sectarian violence have sunk to a new level of depravity. CSW will continue to support the reconciliation process and all the more so in light of this recent violence. We call on the Indonesian authorities to bring those responsible to justice and to take appropriate and expedient measures to restore calm to the region."

Notes to editors.

On Sunday 30 October, the Indonesian Chief of Police, the Minister responsible for Defence, Security and Politics, and the Head of National Intelligence went to Poso on a fact-finding mission. They reported that the three killings had been perpetrated by people outside of the region. It is not clear whether they meant outside of the specific region, Central Sulawesi, or indeed Indonesia. The Church has condemned this finding and issued its own statement to the President of Indonesia, signed by Rev Damanik, asking the President to personally handle this crisis.

The term 'outsiders' has previously been used to describe what is actually militant activity. The government has repeatedly blamed escalating violence n 'outsiders', but it is reported that many of these militants are actually based in, and operating from inside the Poso region, and are protected by local sympathisers.

The Sulawesi region, an island group adjacent to the Moluccas region, has been a scene of escalating ethnic conflict for the past few years. Although the Malino I agreement signed in 2001 has had some effect on the reconciliation front in Central Sulawesi, the security situation remains volatile.

The recent Bali bombing which killed 20 shows that radical Islamist groups, such as Jemaah Islamiyah (JI), are still active in the country.

These groups are also present in Central Sulawesi, which is believed to be one of their main operational and recruitment areas as mentioned in the recently released International Crisis Group (ICG) report. Militant groups are held to be responsible for three recent murders in Poso– the shooting of a police officer on October 12 and two other murders of Poso residents in the last two weeks. Violence in the last few weeks is seen to be part of a renewed campaign to destabilise the fragile peace in Central Sulawesi. There are serious concerns about the growing tension in the area and Rev Damanik is hoping to raise these concerns with the UK government during his visit.

Some 2,000 people lost their lives in inter-religious clashes on the island in 2000.