Australian Broadcasting Corp.
Thursday, November 14, 2002. Posted: 21:46:39 (AEDT)

Kopassus implicated in fatal Freeport ambush

Officers from Indonesia’s controversial Special Forces unit, Kopassus, have been accused of conducting a fatal ambush on an American convoy near the Freeport mine earlier this year.

A native Papuan man has told local police he acted as a guide for the attackers - who were a local unit of Kopassus.

The incident left two American teachers who were working at the mine, and one of their Indonesian colleagues dead.

Defence officials say they have not received any official report about the police investigation, but say they will not hesitate to act if there are suspicions members of the military were involved.

Indonesia has denied accusations aired in The Washington Post that its military officials discussed an operation against Freeport before the ambush, with the aim of discrediting separatists from the Free Papua Movement.