U.S. agents leave Papua

U.S. agents leave Papua

JAKARTA: A team of United States Federal Bureau of
Investigation (FBI) agents has left Papua after questioning a
number of witnesses in connection with the ambush in which three
teachers, including two Americans, were killed in August 2002.

Papua Police chief Insp. Gen. Timbul Silaen said on Thursday
that the FBI team had left the province three days ago.

"They have questioned a number of witnesses. None of those
witnesses were military (TNI members)," he told The Jakarta Post,
saying that the FBI agents were free to question witnesses.

Timbul, however, refused to go into any more details on the
process of the investigation.

An FBI team of four investigators arrived in Indonesia earlier
this month to investigate the bloody ambush. During the probe,
they were accompanied by a National Police team led by Brig. Gen.
Indarto.

A group of unidentified gunmen fired at two buses carrying
Freeport employees from the Tembagapura International School on
Aug. 31 last year. Two American school teachers and one
Indonesian were killed and 12 others wounded.

An investigation by local police revealed earlier that some
military personnel were involved in the killing but military
leaders have consistently denied the suggestion, saying that it
did not match with the facts found by the TNI's own
investigation. -- JP