Army involved in Papua ambush: Police
Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura
Police investigators have found evidence linking the Indonesian Army to an ambush on Aug. 31 which killed two American teachers and an Indonesian near the American-owned PT Freeport Indonesia in Papua.
Papua deputy police chief Brig. Gen. Raziman Tarigan said on Thursday that forensic test results showed that military-issue weapons, including an M-16 machine gun, an SS-1 rifle and a Mauser rifle were used in the Aug. 31 attack.
"What is clear is that these weapons are used by Kostrad in the area," he was quoted by AP as saying, referring to the Army's Strategic Reserve Command.
Tarigan said police had finished its investigation into the case and the result had been submitted to the Indonesian Military (TNI) chief and the National Police chief.
TNI commander Gen. Endriartono Sutarto and National Police chief Gen. Da'i Bachtiar refused to comment on Tarigan's statement.
Endriartono quickly entered his car when journalists wanted to confirm the police's disclosure and Da'i simply said the case was still under investigation.
The two were both in Papua, accompanying President Megawati Soekarnoputri, to attend Christmas celebrations and the inauguration of the Tangguh natural gas project.
Police have said they have evidence indicating elements of the Army were allegedly involved in the attack, but have complained they do not have the authority to question military suspects.
Tarigan said that based on the police report, the Army had set up teams to reinvestigate the cases but had not announced their findings.
"The police findings should have been followed up by the military police so that the case could be resolved thoroughly," Tarigan said.
Military police chief Maj. Gen. Sulaiman A.B. said last Tuesday that his office was unable to prove the alleged involvement of the Indonesian Military (TNI) in the ambush.
Sulaiman said the investigators were unable to trace the perpetrators due to the rapidness of the ambush and the remoteness of the location.
Unidentified gunmen ambushed a convoy of PT Freeport Indonesia employees on their way to Tembagapura. The dead were identified as United States nationals Ted Burcon and Rickey Spear, and an Indonesian, Bambang Riwanto. Nine of the injured were foreign nationals, seven of them Americans.
Local military commander Maj. Gen. Mahidin Simbolon quickly accused a faction of the Free Papua Organization (OPM) separatist group of responsibility for the attack.
One day later, soldiers gunned down a suspected rebel during its hunt for the perpetrators of the ambush.
Rights activists, however, said soldiers could have carried out the attack to discredit a separatist movement in the province and to justify a crackdown on it.
Because of the lack of credibility of the investigation, the United States government had requested a joint-inquiry team involving its investigators investigate the ambush.
The Indonesian government has agreed to form such a joint investigation team provided that it is under the command of the Indonesian police. The government, however, has not yet set a date for the establishment of the team, saying it was awaiting results of investigations by both the police and the military.