Indonesia Blames Separatists For Papua Attacks

JAKARTA (AFP)--Separatist rebels were likely behind a series of bloody ambushes that killed three people, including an Australian, near a giant U.S.-owned mine in Papua, Indonesia's military chief said Tuesday.

General Djoko Santoso told reporters there were "indications" the attack at the massive Grasberg gold and copper mine of Arizona-based Freeport McMoRan (FCX) was carried out by fighters of the Free Papua Movement, or OPM.

"According to reports from there, there were such indications," he said in response to a journalist who asked if the OPM was involved in the weekend attacks.

He did not elaborate on what evidence there was to suggest the poorly armed and trained guerrillas were behind the shootings.

An OPM commander has reportedly denied involvement, although the separatists' armed wing is a disjointed group that acts locally with little central control.

Australian Freeport technician Drew Grant, 29, was killed on Saturday when his car was fired on near the Grasberg mine in eastern Papua province. A Freeport guard was killed in an ambush on the same road Sunday.

A third victim, a policeman, was found dead in a ravine Monday after fleeing the ambush the day before. Reports have varied about whether he fell to his death or was killed.

Freeport's mine has long been a magnet for violence in Papua, which has been the site of a long-running separatist conflict since Indonesia took over the region in 1960s.