Four U.S. security officials investigate Papua ambush

R.K. Nugroho, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura

Four United States security officials, allegedly including an FBI agent, are visiting Papua to help look into last week's ambush that killed two Americans and one Indonesian as Indonesian troops ceased their pursuit of suspected attackers.

Papua police chief Insp. Gen. Made Mangku Pastika said on Thursday that the four arrived on Wednesday accompanied by the U.S. defense attache chief from the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta.

"They have interviewed me about the attack," he said in the provincial capital of Jayapura.

Military sources in Timika town, near gold and copper mine PT Freeport Indonesia, told The Jakarta Post Thursday that one of the four U.S. security officials was an FBI agent.

However, Pastika denied the suggestion, saying: "I know them as security officials from the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta and their staff members".

However, FBI agents have started to investigate the deadly attack in Papua by visiting eight of the wounded -- seven Americans and one Indonesian -- treated in Townsville Hospital, Australia.

A spokesman for the U.S. Embassy in Canberra told AP on Tuesday that an Australia-based FBI agent had interviewed the patients as part of an investigation to determine if the ambush was the work of terrorists.

It was not clear whether the suspected FBI agent currently in Timika was the one who questioned the hospitalized victims in Australia.

Australian consular officials from Jakarta are currently in Papua to assess security conditions in Freeport and to meet Australians working there.

Pastika ruled out any possible foreign assistance to track down the attackers and investigate the bloody incident.

"We are still able to do the job," he said.

He also said that a forensic team from Jakarta arrived in Timika on Thursday to help investigate the incident.

"They will begin the probe tomorrow (Friday)," Pastika said.

Meanwhile, Papua Military Commander Maj. Gen. Mahidin Simbolon said Thursday that security personnel had ceased pursuing the gunmen, believed to have fled into the jungle near the open-pit mine.

He said military personnel assigned to track down the gunmen had already withdrawn to their respective posts in Timika.

In addition, Pastika said joint street patrols would be intensified around the Freeport complex to prevent further attacks.

On Saturday, around 15 gunmen, whose identities and whereabouts remain unknown, ambushed two buses carrying teachers from the Tembaga Pura International School in Freeport. Two Americans and an Indonesian were killed and 12 others injured.

The military blamed the attack on rebels from the Free Papua Movement (OPM) led by Kelly Kwalik, who has denied responsibility.

International human rights watchdog Human Rights Watch on Thursday joined calls for an independent investigation.

"Because of the repeated failure of Indonesia to impartially investigate such incidents in Papua, Human Rights Watch urges Indonesia to convene a panel of independent experts to investigate the killings," the group said in a statement.