JAKARTA — A volcano in eastern Indonesia erupted three times on Thursday, belching an ash tower five kilometers into the sky and spewing lava against a backdrop of lightning, the Southeast Asian country's geological agency said.

Mount Ibu, on the island of Halmahera in North Maluku province, erupted on Thursday morning shortly after 1 a.m., then again at 7:46 a.m. and 8:11 a.m., the agency said.

The initial eruption spewed an ash tower more than 5,000 meters (16,400 feet) above the peak, according to a statement on the agency's website.

The latter eruption lasted about 2 minutes and released an ash column that "was observed around 1,000 m above the peak," geological agency chief Muhammad Wafid said in the statement.

The agency advised residents and tourists to stay out of an exclusion zone between 4 and 7 km from Ibu's crater, and to wear eye and mouth coverings when outdoors.

The eruptions were the latest in a series of huge belches that forced authorities to evacuate more than half a dozen villages last month.

The latest eruptions caused no new evacuation orders and there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage on Halmahera, which hosts about 700,000 people.

Ibu is one of Indonesia's most active volcanoes, erupting more than 21,000 times last year. It remains at the highest alert level in a four-tiered system.

Indonesia, a vast archipelago nation, experiences frequent seismic and volcanic activity due to its position on the Pacific "Ring of Fire."

In April, Mount Ruang in North Sulawesi province erupted more than half a dozen times, forcing thousands of residents of nearby islands to evacuate.

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