Nethy Dharma Somba and Markus Makur, Jayapura, Timika – One person was killed and three others injured Tuesday in two separate attacks blamed on unidentified gunmen in restive Papua province.
In one shooting incident in Puncak Jaya regency, a construction worker for PT Karya Agung was shot and killed by a group of gunmen reportedly led by Peniron Kogoya, who has been blamed for shooting at civilians in the regency.
Puncak Jaya Police deputy chief Comr. Marselis said the body of the worker, identified only as Thamrin, had been taken to Mulia General Hospital.
"We're still questioning witnesses, so we can't say yet what we think might be the motive for the attack," Marselis said. "But it was allegedly carried out by a group hiding in the jungle."
He added the attack took place at around 12:30 a.m., local time when Thamrin and other workers were working on the Kalome bridge.
Marselis said the gunmen approached the construction workers to ask for money, using their native dialect, which none of the workers understood.
"At the time, the workers were baking corn and there was a fire," Marselis said. "The armed men immediately shot at them."
Besides killing Thamrin, the attackers also stabbed another worker, Epiles, in the ear. The worker is now being treated at Mulia hospital.
Thamrin's body will be flown to Pati, Central Java, for burial in his hometown, Marselis said.
Since early 2009, at least six shooting incidents blamed on unidentified gunmen have taken place in Puncak Jaya.
Also Tuesday, gunmen shot and wounded two employees of US mining company PT Freeport Indonesia as three company buses drove down a road to the world's largest gold mine in Timika, Mimika district, police said.
Papua Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Agus Rianto confirmed the attack on Freeport employees between Mile 41 and 42 leading to the Grasberg mine.
He said two miners, Rudi Palandeng and Kristian Karanga, were wounded when the security-escorted buses were ambushed by unidentified gunmen.
The injured men are now in stable condition at the Kuala Kencana clinic. Rudi was shot in the thigh and arm, and Kristian in the hand and waist, police said.
"The incident will not affect our mining production and operations, and we continue to fully support and cooperate with the police in their investigation," Freeport's Indonesian spokesman, Mindo Pangaribuan, told the Associated Press.
Freeport has been targeted by a string of shootings since mid-July that left three people dead and more than 20 injured. Police arrested several suspects for earlier ambushes, but it is unclear who is behind the latest violence.
The mammoth Grasberg mining complex, run by a subsidiary of Phoenix-based Freeport-McMoRan Copper & Gold Inc., has long been a source of tension in Papua, a remote and underdeveloped region that is also home to a low-level insurgency seeking independence from the government.