AMBON - Snipers shot and killed two paramilitary policemen in this eastern Indonesian city yesterday, where the latest violence between Christians and Muslims has claimed at least 29 lives.

The policemen, from the Brimob paramilitary unit, had only arrived the day before when the government rushed hundreds of policemen and troops to the riot-torn city in the Maluku islands.

'Two Brimob policemen have been killed and their bodies are now at provincial police headquarters awaiting evacuation to Jakarta,' said deputy district police chief Sigit Waluluyo.

Officials, medical staff and witnesses also reported more civilian deaths in mob attacks since violence flared up on Sunday during a parade by Christian separatists.

The bloodshed in the bayfront city is the worst since a pact in February 2002 ended three years of sectarian fighting in which about 5,000 people died.

About 200 homes and other buildings, including the United Nations mission, have been torched since Sunday.

Barricades have been set up and hundreds of Muslims and Christians have fled their sectors of the divided city.

The city centre, where the fighting began, was near-deserted yesterday. -- AP