Christian Motte – Police in Papua Province on Friday blamed the separatist Free Papua Movement, or OPM, for a series of attacks over the past few days, after finding a flier from the group on the body of one of the victims.

Papua Police Chief Insp. Gen. Bagus Ekodanto said they believed that groups of OPM members were responsible for the attacks in Papua because "we have the evidence of fliers found at the scene of the attack" in Wamena, the capital of Jayawijaya district.

In Wamena on Wednesday night, five people who were not ethnically Papuan were attacked at four separate locations. Three of the victims were killed. One of the fliers found at the scene was discovered on a victim's body.

Bagus said the printed material was written as a letter from the "Commander of the Free Papua National Liberation Army." "The letter seemed to have been deliberately left on the victim's body," Bagus said.

Protesters attacked a police post in Abepura, near the provincial capital of Jayapura, early on Thursday before polls opened for election day. Retaliatory gunfire by police resulted in the death of one of the attackers there. Other incidents included an attack on Thursday on a police post near the border between Papua and Papua New Guinea. No injuries were reported.

Jayapura Police Chief Adj. Sr. Comr. Robert Djoenso said on Friday that the attacks "were suspected to be by activists of the OPM bent on sabotaging the election."

The Jayapura shooting caused delays in the voting because of rumors of a planned attack on polling stations in Gurabesi and Imbi, two urban wards in North Jayapura district.

However, there were also delays in the delivery of ballot papers to the two polling stations. A member of a local elections committee in Imbi said at least five polling places received elections material late. Deliveries arrived between 3 a.m. and 4:30 a.m. on Thursday, under police protection.

Julius Sawaki, 38, a resident of Gurabesi, said that the delay was caused by a number of factors, including a violent incident in Abepura, the site of one of the lethal attacks.

Toni Mandosir, the coordinator of a polling station in Jayapura district, Yabansai, said voting there opened late because residents were wary of attacks.

Bagus said police were continuing to pursue the attackers. Five people had been named as suspects in the Wamena attacks, while three other people were being questioned.

An investigation into the attack on the Abepura Police post turned up four Molotov cocktails and cables. Police also found an exploded bomb, 10 jerrycans of gasoline, three bows and several arrows.

Fifteen people were arrested as suspects. Bagus said that in the Abepura incident, police had shot several of the attackers. Eri Lego was shot in the stomach, Dino Agobi in the knee and Andi Gobai in the right foot. The man shot to death by police had not yet been identified.