JAKARTA, Jan 30 (Reuters) - Three Muslim youths beat a German tourist to death with sticks in Indonesia after a drunken argument over religion, police said on Wednesday.
Police declined to say precisely what provoked last weekend's killing in Medan, capital of North Sumatra, but it comes as authorities try to reassure foreign tourists that the country is safe to visit amid fears of Muslim militancy.
"The killing happened because of a dispute over religion. Robbery was not a motive," Medan police chief Badruddin Haiti told Reuters without giving the tourist's name.
The tourist was in his early 40s, Haiti said.
He added that all four had been drunk when the argument broke out. Police had since arrested the three youths over the killing.
The tourist was beaten with sticks and his body thrown into a ditch, Haiti said.
The German embassy in Jakarta confirmed a German man had been killed in Medan, 1,425 km (890 miles) northwest of the capital, but had no further details.
Indonesia has struggled to combat negative perceptions of the world's most populous Muslim country following vocal street protests and threats against foreigners last year by radical Islamic groups angered over the U.S. bombing of Afghanistan.
No foreigners were actually attacked during that street campaign in major Indonesian cities.
The killing of the German comes after the murder of an Israeli this week at an island resort in the Philippines.
Both killings follow assurances last week by Southeast Asian tourism ministers that the region is safe for travel.