ISSUED BY: GCIS Communications Command Center
SOURCE: CNN
08February2011 9:00amEST
GCIS INTELLIGENCE UPDATE: Jakarta, Indonesia -- Three Christian churches in Indonesia were destroyed by an angry mob during clashes with police Tuesday that erupted after a local court 
handed down a verdict against a Christian man accused of blasphemy against Islam, authorities said.
The man was given a five-year sentence, said national police spokesman Col. Boy Rafli Amar, but the protesters wanted him to face a stiffer penalty.
The destroyed churches were in Temanggung, Central Java, Amar said. "The scene is now under police control," he said. "It's calm but security is high."
Security personnel are searching for those responsible for the attack on the churches, and authorities are "asking local religious leaders to stay calm and find diplomatic ways to solve the problem."
The attacks were the second violent incident against minority religious groups in Indonesia in the past three days. On Sunday, a mob of about 1,000 people, wielding knives and stones, attacked about 25 members of the Muslim minority sect, Ahmadiyah, in Cikeusik village in West Java's Banten province.
Three people were killed and six others injured. The crowd opposed the presence of the Ahmadiyah in the village and demanded the group stop its activities. (read full report)
