17 Jan 2006

Indonesian police seek four people over Freeport killings

8:19 am on 17 January 2006

Indonesian police are looking for four more people over the killing of two US citizens and their local counterpart in the province of Papua.

Eight suspected Papuan separatists are being held for questioning in connection with the ambush which left two Americans and an Indonesian dead near the Freeport gold mine in August 2002.

The Indonesian police chief General Sutanto says dossiers of evidence against those eight are nearly complete and their trials would take place in the capital Jakarta.

General Sutanto didn't say why officers were specifically looking for four more people, but four men detained along with the eight suspects last week have since been released.

Patsy Spier, the wife of one of the slain Americans and a survivor of the ambush, says FBI investigators should take part in interviewing the suspects.

One of the eight suspects is Anthonius Wamang, a separatist indicted by a US federal grand jury in 2004 on two counts of murder and several counts of attempted murder over the killings.