6 Jan 2003

Ambush against Indonesian police postpones investigation into shooting of family of human rights act

5:29 pm on 6 January 2003

Police in the Indonesia's Papua province say that two soldiers have been wounded by unknown gunmen along its shared border with Papua New Guinea.

The Post Courier reports Indonesian police saying that the gunmen had fired at a joint police-military convery who were investigating the Christmas shooting of members of the family of a prominent Papuan human rights activist.

They say that the investigation into the shooting of John Bonay's family will now be postponed.

Both PNG and Indonesian officials have blamed Papuan separatist rebels for a recent series of border shootouts with Jakarta troops.

The OPM rebels are alleged to be operating from camps within the PNG border town of Wutung.