Police detain two Papuans in suspected separatist attack

Nethy Dharma Somba, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura

Two Papuans were arrested on Monday for questioning over an attack that claimed five lives in Tinggi Nambut village, Puncak Jaya regency.

"The two are being questioned over their roles in the attack," said Comr. Wempy Batlayeri, the deputy chief of the Paniai Police, which oversees Tinggi Nambut village.

The two suspects were identified as Nendilus Telenggen and Kisman Telenggen. They are being questioned over an ambush on Tuesday night near the village that left five migrant workers from South Sulawesi dead.

On Sunday evening, a top officer with the Papua Police said the situation in Tinggi Nambut village was under control and that security personnel had been deployed to the area on Saturday afternoon.

Hundreds of police officers and Indonesian Military soldiers marched on Saturday some 17 kilometers from Mulia city, the capital of Puncak Jaya regency, to Tinggi Nambut village, where they quickly secured the area, said Insp. Gen. Timbul Silaen, the chief of the Papua Police.

The security personnel were deployed to Tinggi Nambut after members of the Free Papua Movement (OPM), who are thought to be responsible for the attack, cut access to the village, including destroying bridges connecting the village with Mulia.

Security personnel did not encounter resistance when they reached the village. The attackers are believed to have fled to the jungle in the face of the advancing troops.

After securing the area, security personnel began searching for five victims who were reportedly killed by the suspected OPM members on Tuesday night.

The five -- all construction workers and migrants from Makassar, South Sulawesi -- were returning to Mulia along with several other people when they were ambushed by the suspected OPM members.

Silaen said the bodies of the five had not been found as of Sunday, but the police were still searching.

"Police have discovered where the civilians were attacked. We found the five cars they were traveling in, which were burned, along with other evidence such as spilled blood, six gun magazines and other items, but we still do not know where the remains of the five are," said Silaen.

The ambush was the first such attack along the road that passes through Tinggi Nambut village. The road was opened two years ago.

Before fleeing the village on Friday, the suspected Papuan rebels burned down several buildings in the village, including elementary schools and the subdistrict cooperative office.