Jakarta – The wife of a Papuan activist whose human rights group has accused Indonesian soldiers of killing two American teachers in the restive province was shot and wounded on Saturday, the organisation said.
A member of the rights group Elsham said another woman was also wounded in the attack on a minibus carrying 11 people near the province's border with Papua New Guinea.
Elsye Rumbiak Boney, wife of John Boney, was taken to hospital, along with the other woman. John Boney heads Elsham. The shooting follows a visit by President Megawati Sukarnoputri this week to mark Christmas in the mainly Christian and animist region.
"Suddenly there was gunfire, bullets hit the vehicle, entering the lower leg of Elsye," the Elsham member, Johannes Rumere, told Reuters by telephone, adding the second woman also sustained a bullet wound to the leg.
He said it was unclear if there was more than one gunman. John Boney was not in the minibus at the time, and police were not immediately available to comment.
Elsham is the most prominent human rights group in Papua province in the east of Indonesia.
The group has pointed the finger at the military over last August's ambush near a US-owned mine on a convoy of vehicles most of whose passengers were American teachers. Two Americans and one Indonesian were killed in the attack.
Based on information obtained from the scene near a giant copper and gold mine operated by US-based Freeport-McMoran Copper and Gold Inc and from a witness, Elsham has said it had concluded soldiers carried out the ambush.
The military has denied any involvement and expressed outrage at the accusations. However, the government has not ruled out that soldiers carried out the August 31 ambush.
Any military links to the attack – which Washington called an "outrageous act of terrorism" – could have implications for Indonesia's ties with the United States.
In an unrelated development, seven members of Indonesia's special forces will be tried next month over the killing of a top pro-independence leader in Papua.