Unidentified assailants have shot a soldier near the giant Freeport-McMoRan Copper and Gold mine in Papua, police said on Thursday.

Papua Police Chief Insp. Gen. Bagus Ekodanto said a soldier was shot in the leg as he was returning from a patrol around the 37-mile mark in Kali Kopi, Timika, on Wednesday.

"There was an incident and based on the report the victim was shot in the leg and is currently being treated at the Mitra Masyarakat Hospital, Timika," Bagus said in Jayapura.

He said he believed the attackers may have been aiming at drawing world attention to their existence ahead of Dec. 1, the anniversary of the 1961 West Papuan Declaration of Independence from Dutch colonial rule. The date has since been taken up by pro-independence activists there as their national day.

Bagus said that although there had been a recent increase in armed attacks in the area, the Armed Forces had no plan to beef up their presence.

"We continue to conduct joint patrols [with the Armed Forces], and develop outposts on the Timika-Tembagapura route, specifically in unsafe areas, but since the terrain is quite challenging, it enables them to strike," said Ekodanto.

A string of shootings targeted at Freeport interests in the area since mid-July has left four people dead – two Freeport employees and two police officers – and dozens of others wounded.

Local military leaders initially blamed the attacks on members of the separatist Free Papua Movement (OPM), but police investigations have produced no evidence of their involvement. They have denied being involved.

Papua Police, in cooperation with the 17th Regional Military Command, have deployed more than 1,000 personnel to secure the Freeport area. Freeport vehicles are now only plying the route in daytime, from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m. only, and under tight security escorts.

Papua, a resource-rich region that trails most other provinces in terms of development and welfare, has been the scene of a low-level separatist insurgency since the 1960s. (JG, Antara)