Three killed in ambush on Freeport employees

RK Nugroho, The Jakarta Post, Jayapura, Papua

A group of unidentified gunmen ambushed a convoy of Freeport Indonesia employees on their way to Tembagapura on Saturday, shooting and killing three people and wounding 12 others.

Provincial Military Commander Maj. Gen. Mahidin Simbolon accused a faction of the Free Papua Organization (OPM) separatist group led by Kelly Kwalik of responsibility for the attack, the latest incident involving foreigners after two Belgians were taken hostage in June last year.

The dead were identified as United States nationals Ted Burcon and Rickey Spear, and an Indonesian, Bambang Riwanto. Nine of the injured were foreign nationals, seven of them Americans, according to a U.S. Embassy spokesman.

Mahidin said the gunmen ambushed the convoy of cars at Mile 62 about halfway between Timika and the American-owned Freeport copper and gold mine in Tembagapura, one of the largest in the world.

He said the Freeport security task force had attempted to hunt down the gunmen. There was an exchange of fire, but no injuries were reported.

The military command deployed two companies of troops to search through the nearby jungle in order to capture the attackers.

Mahidin said his soldiers found 32 cartridge cases, some of them from M-16 automatic rifles.

The U.S. embassy staffer said that Indonesian government officials had told him that troops would capture the shooters.

Siddharta Moersjid, Freeport's spokesman, denied an earlier report claiming the company had suspended its operations following the attack.

"We're still mining," he said without elaborating.

The OPM has been waging a campaign for independence for decades. Human rights activists blamed past abuses and social injustice as the causes of the secessionist movement in the province.

Foreigners have never been targeted for killing, although there have been occasional kidnappings of foreign academics.

Separatist rebels abducted two Belgian documentary filmmakers, Johan van den Eynde and Phillipe Simon, in Jayawijaya in June last year, but released them two months later.

Earlier that year, the rebels also took two South Koreans who worked for a timber company hostage for a few days.

The Indonesian Military deployed over 4,300 reinforcement troops in March of this year to maintain security and order in the province.

Papuans are waiting for the trial of nine military officers accused of being involved in the killing of local pro- independence leader Theys Hiyo Eluway in November last year.