Army involved in Papua ambush: Police

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.