death toll from two days of clashes between Christians and Moslems on the remote Indonesian island of Ambon has risen to 22, the country`s police chief said on Thursday. "The violence resulted in 22 people dead and another 102 suffered serious injuries and 35 light injuries," police chief Lieutenant-General Roesmanhadi (corrects) told reporters. He said more than 3,000 people had taken refuge in military and police complexes in the city of Ambon, the centre of Indonesia`s spice islands. Other officials told Reuters earlier that 17 people had died, but said the situation in the city had

been brought under control. Church sources and police said the violence erupted on Tuesday after a drunken man extorted money from a public transport driver. Clashes then started between residents of two districts and later spread to other parts of Ambon, about 2,300 km northeast of Jakarta. Roesmanhadi said 85 homes were torched in the unrest. About 800 police and soldiers have been deployed to maintain calm in the city. The clashes in Ambon are the latest in a wave of violence which has swept Indonesia in recent months as the country grapples to cope with its worst economic and political crisis in three decades.