Police, US employee injured in fresh attack on Freeport

A group of unidentified gunmen opened fire on a convoy of vehicles carrying employees of mining firm PT Freeport Indonesia and security officers on Sunday, the first shooting incident after a few months of calm.

Nine people, including one foreign employee and four Mobile Brigade police officers, were injured by broken glass during the ambush, which took place at around 6:10 a.m. local time.

Also wounded in the incident were local Freeport employees and an elementary school student.

The renewed attack took place between mile markers 60 and 61 on the road to Freeport’s gold and copper mine from Tembagapura to Kuala Kencana in the town of Timika, Mimika regency, Papua province.

The student, Chindy Mokodompit, is reportedly the child of a Freeport worker.

Papua Police confirmed the fresh attack and were combing through the area to locate and hunt down the attackers. “It’s true that the shooting incident occurred at around 6:10 a.m. and that one foreign employee was wounded,” Papua Police spokesman Sr. Comr. Agus Rianto said.

Some of the victims were admitted to Tembagapura Hospital, he added.

The injured foreign worker was identified as Howard James Lockhart, a 59-year-old American citizen.
He was airlifted to Jakarta from Papua and then transferred to Singapore.

Lockhart sustained an injury to his left eye from broken glass when gunmen opened fire at one of vehicles carrying Freeport employees to the mine.

Agus Rianto said two Mobile Brigade police officers were also flown to Jakarta to receive medical treatment for their gunshot wounds.

“[The officers] were admitted to the police hospital in Kramat Jati in Jakarta at 10 a.m.,” Agus said.

It was the first attack after a period of relative calm. A series of armed attacks on the mining company’s employees, which started in July last year, killed three people including an Australian worker and a policeman.

However, none of the gunmen have been arrested despite tight security surrounding the Freeport mine. The military has denied allegations its personnel were behind the attacks.

A few days ago, Papua Police chief Insp. Gen. Bekto Suprapto told visiting American diplomats that security conditions in the Freeport operational area were improving. The diplomats also visited Freeport during their visit.

Following Sunday’s incident, around 1,000 Freeport workers did not travel to the mine in the highland area in Tembagapura, citing fears of fresh attacks.

Freeport management spokesman Mindo Pangaribuan said in a short message to The Jakarta Post that transportation for workers to the mine would resume after the authorities had declared conditions safe enough.

“Safety and security for the workers and their families are our priorities,” Mindo said.

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