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Indonesia police arrest 12 over Americans' killing

Posted on: Thursday, 12 January 2006, 04:37 CST

JAKARTA (Reuters) - Indonesian police have arrested 12 people in connection with the killing of two American teachers in the remote Papua province more than three years ago, a top policeman said on Thursday.

Ties between Indonesia and the United States were strained after the 2002 incident in which gunmen shot at a convoy carrying teachers from a school run by PT Freeport Indonesia, a unit of U.S.-based Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc, which operates mines in the Papuan mountains.

In 2003, Congress blocked some military training aid to Indonesia to show its displeasure.

But ties between Indonesia and the United States have improved since, and the arrests come after Washington restored military ties in November with the world's most populous Muslim nation as a reward for its assistance in the U.S.-led war on terrorism.

"The police have arrested the perpetrators behind the shootings of American nationals in 2002," national police deputy spokesman Anton Bahrul Alam said.

"The arrest occurred in Timika last night and was assisted by the FBI," he added, referring to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation.

Alam said none of the arrested belonged to the Indonesian military, TNI. The Papua case has been dogged by accusations that Indonesian troops might have been involved, but there has been no evidence to back that suggestion.

Asked whether there were soldiers among the arrested group, Alam said: "No TNI. All of them are Papuans."

Indonesian police chief Sutanto said one of the 12 was Anthonius Wamang, a separatist rebel indicted by a U.S. federal grand jury in 2004 on two counts of murder and several counts of attempted murder in connection with the killings.

The investigation into the shooting was a key factor behind the U.S. decision to fully restore military ties with Indonesia.

Before the resumption, Washington had said full military ties required prosecution of the people behind the Papua killings.

Washington cut back military ties after Indonesian troops shot at demonstrators in East Timor in 1991, killing dozens, when the tiny territory was ruled by Jakarta.

Ties were severed after pro-Jakarta militias backed by elements in the military sacked East Timor in 1999 when the territory voted for independence.

Source: REUTERS

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