Jakarta – Indonesia's army commander indicated for the first time that rogue troops may have killed a separatist politician in Irian Jaya province last month. "If it is one of my men who did it, [then] this is an action without any orders," General Endriartono Sutarto said after meeting President Megawati Sukarnoputri on Wednesday.

Theys Eluay was kidnapped and murdered on November 10 near the provincial capital, Jayapura. He was on his way home from dinner with senior army officers. His family and rights activists in the region have claimed he was killed by a military death squad.

The government has ordered the security forces to launch an inquiry despite calls by human rights groups for an independent probe. Sutarto said Megawati had ordered that the killers of the Theys be found immediately. "I promise not cover up anything," he said.

The state-sponsored National Commission on Human Rights has said there were indications that the army's Kopassus special forces group may have been involved in Eluay's death. The US-trained unit has long been accused of human rights crimes and of operating death squads in Irian Jaya and elsewhere in Indonesia. In the past, Sutarto and other army commanders have vehemently denied any link with Eluay's death.