No Military Role In Papua Mine Shootings - Indonesia Minister

JAKARTA (AFP)--Indonesia's military isn't responsible for a recent spate of deadly ambushes near a massive U.S.-owned mine in the troubled eastern province of Papua, the defense minister said Wednesday.

But Jowono Sudarsono didn't rule out the possibility that "rogue elements" of the police or military were behind the shootings, which killed an Australian mine worker and two Indonesians including a policeman, during the weekend.

"I don't believe that the security forces are responsible for these recent events," he told reporters.

"There may be rogue elements, there may be deserters from each of the services including the police and the military.

"But at the moment there is no verifiable proof that active military or active police are involved in the shooting."

He said his guess was that the attacks were related to feuds between rival groups over control of lucrative illegal mining activity, using the tailings from the massive Freeport-McMoran Copper & Gold Inc.'s (FCX) gold and copper mine north of Timika.

Ammunition used in the attacks Saturday and Sunday was standard military-issue, but the minister said it could have come from "captured rifles."

Indonesia's military chief said Tuesday the perpetrators were probably Papuan separatist rebels, but police in the remote, resource-rich region have said there is no evidence pointing to the rebels' involvement.

"Let's wait for the results of the investigation," Sudarsono said.

"There may be people who are involved in illegal activity who find the lucrativeness of the gold panning ...too good to be ignored."