A landslide and flash floods triggered by heavy rain killed 17 people and inundated four villages on Indonesia's Java island, a disaster management agency spokesman said Saturday.

The incident happened late Friday in Garut district, West Java province, after hours of heavy rain, the official said.

"Seventeen people were killed, two are still missing and four were seriously injured," the official, Sutopo, told AFP.

The rain led to a landslide which blocked the Cikaso river, causing flash flooding, he said.

Rescuers were looking for the two missing people.

Floods and landslides are common in Indonesia, which is prone to frequent bursts of heavy rain.

At least 148 people were killed after flash floods smashed through Teluk Wondama district in Papua late last year.

earlier related report
Three dead in Tajikistan mudslides
Dushanbe (AFP) May 6, 2011 - Three people have died from mudslides after heavy rains caused flooding in the Central Asian state of Tajikistan, emergency services said on Friday.

Two adolescents were killed Thursday night in mudslides in Farkhar, near the border with Afghanistan, and a 16-year-old girl died in the northern mountain village of Chingak, a spokeswoman for emergency services told AFP.

Heavy rains hit most of the poverty-stricken country late Thursday, flooding dozens of hectares of wheat and cotton fields, destroying three bridges and damaging many roads, the spokeswoman said.

Last year 61 people were killed in Tajikistan following heavy rains and hundreds of homes destroyed.

A mountainous, landlocked country, Tajikistan is frequently affected by floods, mudslides and earthquakes that kill dozens of people every year.