Thousands of mourners gathered Sunday for the burial of three Christian militants who were executed for attacks on Muslims during sectarian strife six years ago.

The men were executed by firing squad early Friday for leading the attacks that left 70 people dead, a police official and local media said.

|PIC1|The men were taken before the firing squad at 12:15 a.m., according to a senior police officer who asked not to be identified because he wasn't authorised to speak to the media. Metro TV and SCTV had similar reports, but did not identify their sources.

Fabianus Tibo, 60, Marinus Riwu, 48, and Domingus da Silva, 42, were found guilty of leading a Christian militia that launched a series of attacks in May 2000 including a machete and gun assault on an Islamic school where dozens of men were seeking shelter.

The men told relatives and a priest during final prayers at their jail Thursday that they were innocent but ready to die.

Authorities in Indonesia denied the three Catholic men the right to attend Mass on the day before their execution.

Prison officials refused to allow a priest to hear the men's confessions and celebrate Mass for them one last time on Thursday.

The officials' decision - as well as the refusal to allow the bodies of the three men to lie in state in the Paul cathedral- appears to violate Indonesian law, which stipulates that a prisoner's last wishes should be granted before execution.

The executions on Sulawesi Island Friday sparked riots among Christians in the world's most populous Muslim nation. Many thought their death sentences were unjust because few other people, of either faith, have been convicted in connection with the religious violence.

Soldiers and police guarded churches and mosques in Poso and along roads leading to the remote area of Beteleme, where two of the three militants were buried with several thousand people in attendance, a witness and state news agency Antara said.

On eastern Flores island, the home island of the third man, thousands lined the streets as his body was taken from the airport to a graveyard, a witness said.

Buman rights groups have raised questions over the fairness of the trial and questioned whether the three men were high-ranking fighters. Some analysts have suggested that Indonesia bowed to pressure from hardline Muslims in handing down the sentences.

Many Sulawesi Christians, who have been the target of regular terrorist attacks since large-scale clashes ended in 2002, said they wanted to see an end to the spike in tensions since Thursday's executions.