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WORLD> Asia-Pacific
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New ambush near world's largest gold mine; 2 dead
(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-07-22 19:41 JAKARTA, Indonesia: Gunmen opened fire Wednesday on buses carrying employees of US mining company Freeport in Indonesia's restive Papua province, killing two people in the latest attack on the world's largest gold mine, witnesses and the state news agency said.
The state news agency Antara reported two dead, but it did not identify the victims or say if they were shot. An Associated Press reporter was told by a policeman who witnessed the shooting that a police vehicle escorting the convoy flipped. He declined to be named because he was not authorized to talk to the media. Several injured officers were taken to a local clinic, the AP reporter said, one of them in critical condition. Two body bags were later seen being removed. The police officer did not think any Freeport employees had been hurt. Since July 11, at least a dozen people have been killed or wounded in ambushes along a road leading to the mine, prompting a massive security operation in the militarized zone that is off limits to foreign journalists. Freeport declined comment, referring inquiries to police who did not return phone calls. Arizona-based Freeport has been targeted with arson, roadside bombs and blockades since production began in the 1970s during the US-backed Suharto reign. Freeport CEO Richard Adkerson said Tuesday that 15 arrests had been made in connection with the shootings in which a Freeport guard, an Australian mining expert and a policeman died and at least a dozen others were injured. |
