Gunmen kill two in ambush on gold mine workers

Gunmen opened fire on buses carrying employees of US mining company Freeport in Indonesia’s volatile Papua province today, killing two people.

It is the latest attack on the world’s largest gold mine.

The state news agency Antara did not identify the victims or say if they were shot.

A reporter was told by a policeman who witnessed the shooting that a police vehicle escorting the convoy flipped.

Several injured officers were taken to a local clinic, the reporter said, one of them in a 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 militarised zone that is off limits to foreign journalists.

Freeport would not 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 dictatorship.

Freeport chief executive Richard Adkerson said yesterday that 15 arrests had been made in connection with the previous shootings in which a Freeport guard, an Australian mining expert and a policeman died and at least a dozen others were injured.