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One
Shot Dead in Hunt for Killers of U.S. Teachers
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Mastur, an Indonesian injured during the attack
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JAKARTA,
Sept 1 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - An armed man was killed and
a soldier wounded Sunday, September 1, 2002, as Indonesian troops
hunted gunmen involved in an ambush in Papua that left three dead,
including two U.S. teachers, police and officials said.
"Reports
received by the district military commanders say that one from the
[armed] group was shot dead and one security personnel was
wounded," Irian Jaya police chief I Made Mangkupastika told the
Elshinta private radio.
An
officer in Timika, near where the attack occurred, said some 60 police
and soldiers where hunting the gang which ambushed two buses near
Timika in Indonesia's easternmost province of Papua on Saturday,
Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
The
hunt was disrupted by fog and rains, he said.
The
buses were transporting teachers from the Tembaga Pura International
school near the giant U.S.-owned Freeport gold and copper mine when it
was attacked, killing the two Americans and an Indonesian.
Eleven
other people - nine Americans and three Indonesians - were injured,
with three Americans and one Indonesian with serious shotgun injuries.
The
Timika office of the rights group ELSHAM identified the U.S. nationals
who were killed as Edwin Leon Burgon, the 57-year-old headmaster of
the school, who was shot in the head, and fourth and fifth grade
teacher Space Ricky, 45, who was shot in the chest.
The
Indonesian victim was a teacher of the Indonesian language and was
shot in the head, the group told AFP.
Eight
of the wounded - three males and five females, including a
six-year-old - were flown to Townsville in Australia for treatment.
They
underwent surgery and a hospital spokeswoman there said only two were
still listed as serious. Their nationalities were not disclosed.
A
Freeport spokesman in Jakarta said some of the remaining wounded were
taken to Jakarta but had no further details.
No
one has claimed responsibility for Saturday's attack but Mangkupastika
said "it appears like it was the OPM", which is the Free
Papua Movement.
The
OPM is a poorly organized and badly armed group of rebels which has
conducted a low-level guerrilla war, including in the area around the
Freeport mine, since the 1960s.
ELSHAM
said in a statement that two key witnesses now in Townsville,
identified as American teachers Lynn Poston and Steven Emma, said
there "is strong indications of soldiers' involvement" in
the attack.
Metro
TV said that the attackers wore fatigues and their hair was long and
matted.
But
police chief Mangkupastika told the state Antara news agency: "It
is untrue that the TNI (Indonesia's armed forces) did the attack as
circulating rumors say."
Indonesian
military chief General Endriartono Sutarto also denied any military
involvement and said the military fatigues worn by the armed men were
those of the separatist rebels, the Detikcom online news service said.
Mangkupastika
estimated that the attackers had between seven to eight firearms of
various types. There was no plan to send reinforcements to Timika, he
said.
A
Jakarta-based spokesman for Freeport said the bodies of the two dead
Americans were still in Kuala Kencana, the base for Freeport, while
that of the Indonesian victim had been flown to his hometown
Jogyakarta in Central Java.
PT
Freeport Indonesia, a subsidiary of New Orleans-based Freeport
MacMoRan, operates a 26,400-square-kilometre (6.5-million-acre) site
in Timika which has the world's largest proven gold reserves.
Along
with ExxonMobil natural gas operations in western Aceh province, the
Freeport mine is considered by Jakarta to be a strategic national
asset and is well protected by government soldiers.
But
the Freeport operations have given rise to resentment among local
tribesmen upset at uneven employment opportunities and development.
Tribal activists also say Freeport has destroyed their traditional
lands and way of life. Environmental watchdogs have accused the mine
of pollution.
ExxonMobil
is also criticized in other countries and is currently facing a
criminal lawsuit launched by a Chilean lawmaker for alleged tax
infractions, in the latest dispute over Exxon’s planned sale of $1.3
million in mining assets.
Separatist
sentiment is widespread in Papua, fuelled by alleged human rights
abuses by the military and a feeling that the province has seen little
benefit from its vast natural resources.
A
leading human rights worker has alleged that some of the guerrilla
factions in Papua are prone to manipulation by Indonesian security
forces who allegedly have extensive business interests in the province.
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