Markus Junianto Sihaloho & Ismira Lutfia – The national human rights body said on Monday that it had sent a team to Kebumen, Central Java, to investigate last weekend's clash there between soldiers and farmers.

Ifdhal Kasim, chairman of the National Commission for Human Rights (Komnas HAM), said one of the investigation team's two main areas of concern was whether the soldiers had violated standard operating procedures by opening fire on civilians.

"The other is whether there was collusion between Army officers and private investors [in their effort] to mine the disputed area for iron," he said.

At least 14 farmers from Setrojenar village in Kebumen were wounded by gunfire during a confrontation with soldiers guarding an Army research and development office.

The conflict erupted after residents, who have long protested the Army's use of the area for weaponry and ballistics training, blocked troops from using the location last week and vandalized a nearby research facility.

An Army spokesman said farmers had gone to the research facility armed with sharp tools and knives, prompting soldiers to fire rubber bullets at them.

A member of the Forum for South Kebumen Farmers (FPPKS) had earlier claimed the villagers held legal documents showing them to be the real owners of the disputed land.

Ifdhal said Komnas HAM had since last year been trying to mediate between both sides. "That's why it's regrettable that the soldiers used violence against the farmers," he said. "[Soldiers] should refrain from abusive actions, although there is an impression that the farmers tried to provoke them."

Military spokesman Rear Adm. Iskandar Sitompul said the soldiers had not violated standard procedures in opening fire on the farmers. However, he said the Army would abide by the outcome of the legal investigation into the incident.

Air Marshal Eris Herryanto, the Defense Ministry's secretary general, said any land disputes between civilians and the military should be brought to court and should steer clear of violence.

"We just want to seek legal avenues to handle such disputes," he said. He added that the military always set up human settlement-free buffer zones around its training grounds, but lack of budget and manpower to enforce the zones had allowed people to encroach on them.

Eris said the villagers in Kebumen should have known that the land was used as a military training ground because it had hosted several live-fire artillery exercises.

"But because it hadn't been used for a while, the villages might have thought the military wasn't using it anymore," he said. "There should be a national formulation for allocating land for military exercises, which we're now working on."