Tiger takes revenge in Bengkulu
JAKARTA: A farmer was killed by a tiger thought to have wandered out of a national park in Bengkulu, an official said on Friday.
"The victim was attacked by the tiger as he was walking home from the fields on Thursday afternoon," said Agus Priambudi, head of the Bengkulu Natural Resources Conservation Bureau. Bengkulu is one of the provinces in southern Sumatra.
"There is a strong suspicion the tiger came from Kerinci National Park," Agus was quoted by Antara as saying.
Without revealing the victim's name, Agus said animals from the park had started wandering into nearby plantations in search of food.
"No more food is available for tigers in the park as a result of rampant illegal logging in the forests," Priambudi said.
A report last year by the World Resources Institute, Global Forest Watch and Forest Watch Indonesia said Indonesia was losing nearly two million hectares (4.94 million acres) of forest annually -- an area half the size of Switzerland. -- Antara
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Australians rescue RI fishermen
JAKARTA: An Australian ship rescued six Indonesian men clinging to a makeshift raft in the Arafura Sea on Friday, two days after their fishing boat sank off Australia's north coast, Australian marine authorities said.
They were first spotted by Australian air coast guards on Friday morning, said Australian Marine Safety Authority spokesman Ben Mitchell, about 70 nautical miles from the northern Australian town of Maningrida.
"The Australian Marine Safety Authority issued an emergency broadcast out to the ships in the area. The vessel Cape Preston responded and that ship arrived at the men at about 3:30 p.m. local time," Mitchell told reporters.
Through translators, the men said their fishing boat sank Wednesday after striking an "unknown object," he said.
"They have been on the raft since then. It was a small makeshift raft just able to support the six people."
The men will eventually be airlifted from the cargo ship and flown to Maningrida, Mitchell said.
"They have indicated they wish to return to Indonesia," he said, adding that all were "safe and well ... but there have been some minor injuries." -- AFP
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One rebel killed in shootout
JAKARTA: At least one suspected rebel leader was killed in a Friday afternoon shootout with members of the Army's Special Forces (Kopassus) in Karmenawari village, West Coast district, Sarmi, Papua on Friday.
Jayapura 172 Military Regiment commander Col. Inf. Agus Mulyadi said the Kopassus Rajawali task force, led by Lt. Inf. Tambunan, raided the village after receiving a tip from local people that a group of five rebels were holding a meeting there.
The dead man was identified as Leo Warisman. Four others escaped.
Leo Warisman had been accused of leading an attack on a military post in Takar, East Coast regency in 2001, which killed four Kopassus members.
Members of the task force also confiscated four weapons, 40 rounds of ammunition, a typewriter, various documents and the Morning Star independence flag.
Troops briefly detained for questioning four civilians -- two women and two children but later released them due to lack of evidence of their involvement in the secessionist movement.
A low-level secessionist movement has been going on in the resource-rich province since the 1960s after Indonesia claimed the territory. -- Antara