Jakarta – A leading US newspaper, The Washington Post, on Tuesday said it had found "no substantiation" to one of its reports published last year that implicated senior Indonesian military officers in plans for an attack in Papua, AFP reported.

The paper printed a statement on an inside page, following a settlement with lawyers for the military in Jakarta.

On November 3, the Post ran a report on an ambush at the Freeport Mine in Papua, in which two Americans and one Indonesian were killed. It reported that "senior Indonesian military officials discussed an operation" against Freeport before the ambush and that the discussions involvedthe military's commander in chief, Gen. Endriartono Sutarto, according to the retraction.

Endriartono has denied he or other officers discussed such a scheme. "As a result of the general's denial, The Post investigated the matter further," the paper said.

"The reporting has revealed no substantiation that Sutarto or other high-ranking Indonesian military officers were involved in any discussion orplanning of the attack. The Post regrets publication of this report."