Muslim Fighters Head to Maluku Province

Indonesian police at the port of Surabaya, about 400 miles east of Jakarta, the capital, allowed hundreds of hard-line Muslim fighters to board a ship bound for the strife-torn Maluku province. Police said that they knew the men belonged to a radical group planning a jihad, or holy war, against Christians in the northeastern province--once known as the Spice Islands--but that “we did not have any reason to arrest them because no weapons . . . were found when we frisked them.” Police said they believe that the group will pick up weapons when the ship stops at the island of Sulawesi.