Jakarta, Indonesia - Indonesian Vice President Jusuf Kalla on Thursday ordered police to crack down on Muslim activists who attacked homes belonging to a "deviant" Islamic sect, a report said.
A mob attacked a housing complex belonging to the Ahmadiyah sect in Kuningan, West Java, on Tuesday damaging 14 houses and two small mosques.
Four of the attackers were injured by defending Ahmadiyah members. No arrests have been made.
The Ahmadiyah sect believes that Muhammed was not the final prophet, contradicting a central tenet of mainstream Islam. The group has several thousand members in Indonesia, the world's most populous Muslim nation.
"I have talked to the police so they will act firmly against anyone trying to hinder others practicing their faith," Kalla was quoted as saying by news portal Detikcom.
Kalla said that a fatwa, or religious edict, issued in 2005 by the peak Muslim body the Indonesian Council of Ulemas banning Ahmadiyah and declaring it a "deviant" sect did not justify the use of violence and force.
"The MUI fatwa does not mean that people have to be beaten up," Kalla said.
The government has not outlawed the group nationwide but local bans have been issued in several districts, including Kuningan in 2004, according to Yudhi, an official from the local administration.
Around 200 members of Ahmadiyah were forced to move to temporary shelters on the Muslim island of Lombok, near Bali, after hardline Muslims attacked their homes and mosques early last year.