Police admit to FBI's presence in Papua

Police admit to FBI's presence in Papua

R.K. Nugroho, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura

Papua Police chief Insp. Gen. Made Mangku Pastika said on Friday
that an FBI agent was included in the team of U.S. security
officials in Papua looking into last week's bloody ambush that
killed two Americans and one Indonesian near gold and copper mine
PT Freeport Indonesia.

Pastika, however, denied that the agent came as an FBI
investigator. "He came as a legal officer, not as an FBI
investigator," Pastika told AFP on Friday.

The agent is believed to be based in Singapore.

The team, which arrived on Wednesday, was accompanied by the
U.S. defense attache chief from the U.S. Embassy in Jakarta.

Pastika said the U.S. team visited the country's easternmost
province to ask about the progress of the police investigation
and security efforts.

Investigators have so far recovered more than 100 cartridge
cases from 7.62 and 5.56 millimeter caliber ammunition -- the
type used in military rifles, he said.

Some 15 gunmen, whose identities and whereabouts remain
unknown, ambushed two buses carrying teachers from the Tembaga
Pura International School in Freeport last Saturday.

Two Americans and an Indonesian were killed and 12 others were
injured.

Catholic priest Teo Van Den Bok of the Jayapura Cathedral told
The Jakarta Post on Friday that the U.S. team would help local
police get objective and independent data in tracking down the
attackers and to investigate the bloody incident.

"We should take advantage of any efforts that could unveil the
perpetrators in this case," said Teo, adding that it was logical
that the U.S. offered help since the case involved its citizens.

Pastika had ruled out on Thursday any involvement of foreign
investigators in the incident, saying that police authorities
were capable of probing the incident.

Teo also said that the police should be open, objective and
independent in its investigation so that it would not trigger any
doubt over their work performance.

Local councillor Frans Koromat said that the public should not
make any accusations before the investigation was complete.

"All parties should have confidence in the police to conduct
their investigation. Accusations will only make the situation
worse," he told the Post.

The Freeport mine is one of only two industrial sites in
Indonesia designated as a strategic national asset, meaning they
are heavily guarded by government troops.

The military blamed the attack on rebels from the Free Papua
Movement (OPM) led by Kelly Kwalik, who has denied
responsibility, while some people believed that the military was
behind the incident.

Indonesian troops ceased their pursuit of suspected attackers
as the gunmen were believed to have fled into the jungle near the
open-pit mine.

A forensics team from Jakarta began their probe on Friday by
investigating the evidence, including the bullet holes in the
car, some bullets and a body alleged to be one of the
separatists. The body is being kept in Tembagapura General
Hospital.

Meanwhile, officials at a hospital in Brisbane, Australia,
said on Friday that three of the wounded U.S. nationals and an
Indonesian were about to go home.