Three killed in ambush on Freeport employees

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.