ABC Radio Australia News
14/11/2002 23:03:07

Indonesian forces implicated in Papua killings

Indonesian special forces soldiers are suspected of involvement in an ambush that killed two Americans in Papua province in August.

Papua deputy police chief Brigadier General Raziman Tarigan says a native Papuan told police a week after the ambush that he knew the names of four of 11 soldiers involved in the attack.

Brigadier Tarigan says police have photographs of the four.

Two American teachers and an Indonesian colleague were killed when gunmen opened fire on buses carrying them near the United States-owned Freeport gold and copper mine in Timika district on August 31.

Brigadier Tarigan says police had told top military personnel about the possible involvement of the Kopassus soldiers.