Police dispatch special teams to deal with Papua shootings

Police have deployed three teams which specialized in handling crisis situation following the latest shootings on the buses carrying U.S. firm-run mining workers in Papua on Tuesday, police Chief Bambang Hendarso Danuri said on Friday.

Those teams were tasked to arrest the perpetrators of the shootings that wounded two workers of PT. Freeport Indonesia onboard the buses that transported them to the mining sites.

"We expect a successful outcome from their deployment," the Indonesian police chief was quoted as saying by the Antara news agency.

Bambang said that the deployment would strengthen the existing police and troops joint team that was particularly tasked to oversee the security in Freeport's operation area following spate of shootings conducted by armed bands that had killed workers and security apparatus in the last few months.

"We would undertake more intensive surveillance in Timika and Jayawijaya mountain," Bambang said, referring to the world's largest open pit gold mining areas.

The two workers, who were shot at on Tuesday suffered minor injuries.

Papua's Timika police station already detained seven people charged of helping the perpetrators in the previous shootings at buses carrying Freeport workers that killed two workers and a police.

Police are yet to arrest any of the shooters involved in the shootings. (*)