The Jakarta Post, 4/5/2004 3:01:22 PM
Two killed in violence ahead of elections in Papua
JAKARTA (AFP): A policeman and an election official were killed in Indonesia's
easternmost province of Papua before Monday's legislative elections, officials said.
Police said an unidentified group of some 20 men, armed with knives, arrows and
machetes, ambushed them as they were delivering election equipment to the
southeastern district of Okaba in Merauke regency on Saturday.
Police said they had heard both men were killed but the district police chief was still
on site to confirm the facts.
Provincial police spokesman Daud Sihombing said the men were ambushed while
guarding a batch of poll equipment which was being unloaded on a beach in the
remote region.
He said there was no indicattion yet who the attackers were.
The Free Papua Movement (OPM) has waged a sporadic low-level armed revolt for
independence since Indonesia took control of the mountainous jungle-clad territory
from Dutch colonisers in 1963.
Sihombing also said police shot dead a suspected separatist rebel who attempted to
flee from a police station in Jayawijaya district on March 30. He said the victim,
Maryus Koyoga, had attacked an police officer while he was under interrogation and
attempted to run.
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