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JAKARTA - Indonesia opened the door on Friday to FBI involvement in a faltering investigation over the killing last August of two American school teachers and an Indonesian in restive Papua province. Police have said weapons used in the August 31 attack near a U.S.-owned mine such as M-16 rifles were mainly the same type as those carried by troops stationed near the site, but that it was too early to point fingers at military involvement.
Any military hand in the ambush -- which Washington called an "outrageous act of terrorism" -- could have implications for Jakarta's relations with the United States, especially in restoring military ties that were slashed after bloodshed gripped East Timor's 1999 vote to break from Jakarta's rule. Chief security minister Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono told reporters that the FBI could get involved after the Indonesian police and military completed their separate probes, although he did not say why Jakarta would allow this.
Echoing previous police statements, Yudhoyono did not rule out any party being behind the ambush on a convoy made up of mostly American teachers in the remote eastern province. "After Indonesia conducts the investigation by police and military, then based on a clear term of reference and technical aspects agreed by all parties, certainly the FBI could work together (with Indonesia) in this process," Yudhoyono said.
The military has vehemently denied any wrongdoing in the attack, which took place near a copper and gold mine operated by U.S.-based Freeport-McMoran Copper and Gold Inc. Soldiers provide the main security for Freeport's mine. Indonesia's military has a murky reputation, having played a key political role during the rule of former autocrat Suharto, whose downfall in 1998 sparked calls for investigations into allegations of rights abuses carried out by the armed forces.
In an unrelated development, seven members of Indonesia's special forces will be tried next month over the killing of a top pro-independence leader in Papua. The Free Papua Movement (OPM), which has been fighting a low-level rebellion for decades in Papua, has also denied any involvement in the August 31 ambush. Some separatist supporters and human rights groups have claimed army elements might have staged the incident to discredit the rebels, charges vehemently denied by the military.
Papuans differ ethnically from most people in the world's most populous Muslim country and are either Christian or animist. Resource-rich Papua is one of Indonesia's two separatist hotspots, along with Aceh province in the country's northwest.
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