Army to 'enforce law' after Papua arms raid

Army to 'enforce law' after Papua arms raid

Nethy Dharma Somba and Tiarma Siboro, The Jakarta Post,
Jakarta/Jayapura

Army Chief of Staff Gen. Ryamizard Ryacudu ordered the military
in Papua to quell the Free Papua Movement (OPM), which was blamed
for a deadly burglary at the Jayawijaya military district arsenal
early on Friday.

He also instructed a thorough investigation into the alleged
involvement of the military district's personnel in the arms
theft.

"The military in Papua must hunt the rebels until they are
captured and quell the separatist movement which has weakened the
government. The military must enforce the law in the province,"
he said after Friday prayers.

Ryamizard expressed regret that the separatist movement in
Papua had been "intensifying their activities" following the
pullout in February of Army's Special Force (Kopassus) personnel.

At least three, including two Army soldiers, were killed in a
gunfight when at least 15 suspected OPM members broke into an
Army arsenal in Jayawijaya, Papua.

First Lt. A. Napitupulu and First Sgt. Ruben Lena were killed
in Friday's clash and their bodies were taken to the Wamena
General Hospital, while one rebel, identified as Islae Murib, was
handed over to the local people for burial.

The spokesman for the Trikora Military Command overseeing
Papua, Maj. E. Situmorang, told The Jakarta Post by telephone
that the rebels succeeded in taking 13 M-16 rifles, 13 SP-1
rifles, three PM rifles, along with thousands of rounds of
ammunition.

He explained that the incident began when the two military
personnel became suspicious during an electrical blackout in the
Jayawijaya Military District headquarters' arsenal at 1:30 a.m.
local time.

"The two on-duty officers went to guard the arsenal and were
greeted with several rounds fired by the thieves, leaving both
dead. Several other officers ran to the site and were involved in
a gun battle with the rebels who later fled to the adjacent
forest area," he said, adding that Murib was killed and another
rebel was wounded in the clash.

"Our personnel also found three jackets, two bags of medicine,
two machetes and 10 spent M-16 shells," he said.

Situmorang said the local military would first investigate the
military district's personnel who were suspected of aiding and
abetting the burglary.

"It would be impossible for the rebels to cut off the
electricity and break into the arsenal, unless they were in
collusion with the local military personnel," he said.

Trikora Military Command Chief Brig. Gen. Nurdin Zainal, who
flew in to Jayawijaya shortly after receiving the report, has
ordered the military in the regency to hunt for the rebels.

He said he was considering a deployment of more combat
personnel to sweep the forest areas where the rebels were
believed to be holed up.

Maj. Gen. Sjafrie Sjamsuddin, spokesman for the Indonesian
Military (TNI), said the Trikora Military Command would set up a
team to carry out the investigation.

"Since the attackers were armed, we believe that OPM members
were responsible for the break in. But we (the TNI) are not
ruling out the possibility of whether some of our personnel were
also involved in the incident," Sjafrie said.