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JAKARTA : Separatist rebels were likely behind a series of bloody ambushes that killed three people, including an Australian, near a giant US-owned mine in Papua, Indonesia's military chief said on Tuesday.
General Djoko Santoso told reporters there were "indications" the attack at the massive Grasberg gold and copper mine of Arizona-based company Freeport McMoRan was carried out by fighters of the Free Papua Movement (OPM).
"According to reports from there, there were such indications," he said in response to a journalist's question if the OPM was involved in the weekend attacks.
He did not elaborate on what evidence there was to suggest the poorly armed and trained guerrillas were behind the shootings, and his comments contradicted statements made by senior police Tuesday in Papua.
An OPM commander has reportedly denied involvement, although the separatists' armed wing is a disjointed group that acts locally with little central control.
Australian Freeport technician Drew Grant, 29, was killed on Saturday when his car was fired on near the Grasberg mine in eastern Papua province.
A Freeport guard was killed in an ambush on the same road Sunday.
A third victim, a policeman, was found dead in a ravine Monday after fleeing the ambush the day before. Reports have varied about whether he fell to his death or was killed.
Freeport's mine has long been a magnet for violence in Papua, which has been the site of a long-running separatist conflict since Indonesia took over the region in the 1960s.
Contradicting the armed forces commander, Papua province police chief Bagus Ekodanto said there was nothing to point towards the attacks being the work of separatists.
"Up to today, there have been no indications that the attackers are from the OPM or any separatist group," he said.
He also dismissed suggestions the well-planned ambushes were the work of rogue elements of the military.
But he said whoever carried out the attacks showed a high level of skill and organisation.
"From our investigations, what's clear is that this group is very well-trained in using weapons and can shoot in the dark," Ekodanto told a press conference in the Papuan town of Timika.
Two American schoolteachers and an Indonesian colleague were killed in an ambush on the road from the mine in 2002.
Indonesia sentenced an alleged OPM commander to life in prison for those killings, but rights groups have alleged the military staged the attack to maintain lucrative protection payments from Freeport.
Australian police are assisting Indonesian authorities in the investigation into Grant's death. - AFP/de
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