Captors planned to kill Indonesian hostages

Captors planned to kill Indonesian hostages

JAKARTA (Agencies): A Dutch couple who were rescued from captivity in Irian Jaya jungles said yesterday that their captors had planned to kill all the five Indonesian hostages they held.

Martha Klein and Mark van der Wal, who flew back to Amsterdam on Wednesday, said in a statement released by the Dutch Embassy that as army troops closed in on them and the captors last week, "the cornered men, totally unexpectedly for us, decided to let go of the whites and kill the rest", Reuters reported.

The two Dutch nationals said they and four British scientists fled to safety along with three Indonesian hostages. The other two Indonesians were slashed by the kidnappers with machetes and bled to death.

Their statement corroborated an earlier military claim that documents seized from the rebels showed specific instruction to kill the Indonesian hostages.

All the 11 hostages were taken hostage by Irian Jaya separatist rebels on Jan. 8. The hostages were rescued after a seven-hour gun battle on May 15 in which eight rebels were killed and two captured, according to the military.

"The joy of freedom has been heavily overshadowed by these events," the Dutch couple said in the statement.

Describing the four-month ordeal, which was overshadowed by Klein's pregnancy, they said: "The whole period .. has been a period of running and standing still, of hope and despair. (There were) days of emptiness and boredom, periods of food scarcity and hunger.

"Especially frustrating was the very difficult communications with our 'hosts'. They spoke little Indonesian and they had no reference point to relate with the outside world.

"Especially frightening for us was of course the fact that the baby was coming. Giving birth in the woods was coming closer and closer."

But the two said local Irianese had been a big help.

"It was they who supplied us with food in any which way they could and also gave us their sincere sympathies. In fact, we've been treated like guests by the majority of the indigenous people or even as family members."

The two said they planned to stay in the Netherlands until their baby is born in July. They said they would then consider returning to Indonesia.

"Hopefully by that time it will become clear whether the situation in Irian Jaya will improve, and so we do not want to rule out a return. For now we need rest and time to spend with our loved ones."

Van der Wal was on a World Wide Fund for Nature project in Irian when he was captured. Klein, who works for the UN in Jakarta, was visiting him and the British and the Indonesians were on a scientific expedition to the Lorentz nature reserve in the region.

Meanwhile, the Far Eastern Economic Review reported that Indonesia's special forces received important technical assistance from Israel in the hostage rescue operation.

In its May 30 issue, the Review quotes diplomatic and other sources as saying that Israeli-made Mazlat Scout pilotless drones had been shipped from Singapore and were used to help locate the hostages, DPA reported yesterday.

The Review said the unmanned drones flew pre-programmed routes over rebel-held jungle, employing thermal imaging to detect body heat and helping special-forces personnel to pinpoint the hostages' location.

The Review said a Singaporean Air Force C-130 cargo plane flew several of the drones to Jakarta in late April and that they were accompanied by Israeli technical advisers.

The military has earlier denied media reports suggesting the involvement of any foreign agents in the operation.