Timika, Papua – Police said they have identified six people involved in an ambush on Friday at Mile 37, Tanggul Timur, Mimika, Papua, that left three people dead.

"There were five or six perpetrators," confirmed Papua Police Command spokesman Senior Commissioner Wachyono, when asked about the incident on Saturday.

He said that based on preliminary results of the investigation the suspects' motive appeared to have been to create additional chaos in the already volatile Mimika area, where the Freeport-McMoRan Grasberg mine is located. He added that the police were still investigating the incident.

Wachyono said that the police discovered a number of documents belonging to a separatist Free Papua Movement (OPM) group while arresting the suspects. He added that one of the documents bears the signature of Teni Kualik, commander of the OPM National Liberation Soldiers for the Timika region.

Yana Heryana, Iip Abdul Rohman and Deden, who were employees of Puri Fajar Mandiri, were killed in the Friday afternoon attack. The attackers also shot at a Freeport Indonesia security car that came to respond to the incident. Thobias and Roy Makalele sustained injuries to their arms and legs while trying to evacuate the victims.

Freeport Indonesia said it would cooperate with police during its investigation into the incident.

The company's spokesman Ramdani Sirait said Freeport was saddened by the deaths of the three employees, who worked for one of its contractors. He added that the incident occurred in the same area where Freeport security officers Daniel Mansawan and Hari Siregar were found dead in a charred vehicle last April.