Six more hostages freed in Irian Jaya
JAKARTA (JP): Six more of the logging workers held hostage by separatist rebels in Irian Jaya's jungles were released yesterday, a military official said.
Armed Forces spokesman Brig. Gen. Amir Syarifuddin said three were released in the morning, and three others in the afternoon in a military operation that involved no shooting.
The six hostages were rescued by the Rajawali special forces team, which also secured the release of three on Friday afternoon.
Their were weak because they had gone without food for four days, Antara news agency quoted Amir as saying.
The freed hostages are Sungkono, 42, Diyono, 26, Marjan, 24, Suyono, 30, Wiji Wibowo, 18, and Winarsih, 27, the only female hostage.
They were all taken to a hospital in Timika.
Amir said yesterday that efforts to rescue the remaining three hostages -- Sumaji, 19, Laharman, 18 and Maskum, 28 -- were still underway, with back-up from five helicopters.
The official said the absence of gunfire during the operations on Friday and Saturday was because "the kidnappers were probably too busy trying to escape the troops closing in on them so they abandoned the nine people".
The hostages, all employees of PT Kamundan Raya, were taken captive on Aug. 14 by a group of around 50 armed men.
The hostages numbered 16 at first, but several days after the kidnapping, two of them managed to escape, and two others were released to deliver a letter from the rebels to the authorities.
The military said the letter contained demands that the Djajanti Group, the parent company of PT Kamundan Raya, leave the area, and that the release of the hostages be arranged through Tom Beanal, a local leader, and human rights organizations.
Antara reported that the leader of the Rajawali special forces, Col. Frans Willem de Wanna, confirmed his team had shot and killed Pius Orok Yane Magai Yogi earlier this week.
Yogi was believed to be a leader of the rebel group.
After killing Yogi, the Rajawali team dropped pamphlets across the jungle requesting other members of the group, led by Tadius Yogi, to surrender and release the remaining hostages peacefully.
Central Irian Jaya, the site of the hostage drama, is mostly covered by mountainous jungles and experiences heavy rainfall, with temperatures falling to as low as 10 degrees Celcius.
The Free Papua Organization (OPM), which has been seeking an independent state in Irian Jaya since the late 1960s, has taken other people hostage in the past.
In January, OPM members kidnapped 26 people, including seven Europeans, in the jungles of Irian Jaya.
They released one foreigner and 14 of the Indonesian hostages. In May, a military rescue operation, during which two Indonesian hostages were killed, recovered the rest of the hostages. (pwn)