Three Christian Schoolgirls Beheaded in Indonesia

The Most Reverend Father, Archbishop Gary Beaver has released details of Saturday's shocking murders of three teenage girls while they walked through a plantation to reach their Christian high school near Poso, Indonesia.

Six masked men armed with machetes attacked them, hacking off the heads of three of girls and brutally wounding a fourth. The survivor, identified as 14-year-old Noviana Malewa, was rushed to hospital.

Local Community leaders have attempted to downplay religion as a motivating factor in the crime, although witnesses stated that the severed head of one of the girls was found several miles from the scene of the attack, outside a Christian church.

The timing of the attack may also be significant, coming just days before the end of Ramadan, the Muslim fasting month. Numerous attacks on Christians in Indonesia over the past years have occurred during Ramadan.

President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has suggested that some elements in the Sulawesi city of Poso were bent on "maintaining the hostility and conflict of the past.

This attack has taken place the week that a group called Indonesian Churches Together sent out an "SOS" message urging Christians around the world to pray for those in Indonesia facing an "escalation of terrorism, intimidation and persecution," the Assist news service reported.

"Some Indonesian Christians are doubtful about how much will be achieved, given the security forces' record of reluctance to protect Christians or to bring their attackers to justice," reported the Barnabas Fund, a Christian organization which works closely with Christians in Indonesia and other Muslim countries.

Archbishop Gary Beaver has entered into official communication with the Indonesian Government calling for justice and interfaith dialogue to stem the rising tide of Christian persecution.